A New Fairy Tale
by Black Knight 03
Summary: 6th story in the Fairy Tale Collection. For the final fairy tale, Jason Gordon and Amanda Craft learn what their parents learned long ago, its not easy falling for your best friend. [OC Pairings]
1. The Final Fairytale

This is the 6th and final story for the Fairy Tale Collection. I suggest reading the rest of the collection first and then reading this. This story is going to focus mostly on the children but the parents will have parts too.

Disclaimer – Disney owns Lizzie McGuire. Everything else is mine.

A/N – _"Thoughts"_, This chapter is set sixteen years after First Child, The "new" trio are juniors in high school.

Chapter 1 – The Final Fairytale

Miranda walked out onto the hotel room's balcony and with a small smile, studied Gordo for a moment as he stood looking out at the view with his back to her. _"He's driving himself into the ground. Well, at least this is the last week and he'll be home soon."_ Walking up to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and gently nuzzled his neck, "You look exhausted," she told him.

Not much had changed after over twenty years of marriage. Three children did make you a little wiser and being older, mellowed you a little, but between Miranda and Gordo, the heat was still there. The flirty banter and sarcastic teasing was an every day constant in the Gordon household.

While Miranda was still concerned about her looks, to Gordo, she was even more attractive now then when she was twenty-five. The same could be said for Miranda; she was more in love with him now, than when they were first married. Even during the good times with Ryan in Paris, she felt nothing like what she felt when she was with Gordo.

Gordo closed his eyes as he rested his arms over hers. "This is why I like working with animated characters. No bullshit and they do what I tell them."

"Tudge will love to hear that," Miranda teased, getting the desired laugh out of Gordo. "Jason any help?"

"Yea. He's the only one who I can trust to actually get any work done and do what I ask," he said as he gently leaned back into his wife's embrace.

Jason Gordon was now sixteen and as he got older, the more Miranda thought they were more like brothers than father and son. They looked incredibly similar, Jason was roughly 5'8", had his father's untamable black curly hair and piercing blue eyes. They also had many of the same habits and mannerisms; both were highly intelligent but often forget they were still human. Whereas Gordo wanted to be filmmaker, Jason wanted to be a writer.

While he was under sized for an athlete, Jason was one of the biggest soccer stars in the region and was set to be captain of the boy's varsity team, which was expected to compete for the start championship this year.

With Gordo shooting a movie over the summer in New York City, he decided to bring Jason with him. He was to be his personal assistant, fetch him whatever he needed during the course of the day, and it also gave him some one who thought similar to him and that he could bounce ideas off.

While they butted heads often, aside from being father and son, Jason had Miranda's short fuse temper and Gordo's perfectionism for a volatile mix; but they did make a very good team.

"Where is my assistant anyway?"

Miranda snickered softly, "Where do you think? I can't pry him away from that laptop, they've been IMing each other since you got home. Its kinda sweet."

The person Miranda was talking about was sixteen year old, Amanda Craft. She was one of Jason's two best friends and not so secret crush. Ever since Amanda and Rachel Braden, Lizzie's daughter, met Jason, the new trio had been inseparable despite varying interests and other outside factors.

Gordo looked over his shoulder at Miranda and than turned around in her arms, "So how was your shopping trip? Maria leave me any money on my credit cards?"

For Gordo's last week in New York, Miranda and their two daughters flew out to visit them and spend a small family, working, vacation in the city.

Maria Gordon was fourteen and was around 5'5", shoulder length curly black hair, and had her mother's expressive black eyes. Where as Jason took more after his father, Maria took more after her mother. She had Miranda's offbeat sense of style, dare devil attitude, and her mother's speak first, think later mindset.

She also had her stubbornness; she saw something she wanted, she didn't let anything get in her way of getting it. At the moment, that meant Larry and Amy's youngest child, Eric Tudgeman.

Like her father and brother, she was highly intelligent too, which when mixed with everything else, often got her into trouble. Where as Jason more followed their father into media and also athletics, she again took after her mother and was more in to arts, singing and drawing, and being creative.

Of the three children, and the whole family for that matter, Maria and Jason had the most violate relationship. They loved each other but they knew exactly how to push each other's buttons. It wasn't uncommon for them to be yelling at each other one moment and for either of them to be going to other for advice the next. That was their relationship's unpredictable nature.

Being so close in age, Maria and Jason also bickered with each other a lot like Gordo and Miranda did at their age, of course minus the flirty undercurrent. The two of them could have arguments for days but Jason was fiercely protective of his sister and had a hard time seeing that she was growing up, which lead to a lot of the arguments.

The second daughter was Natalie Gordon. She was defiantly a mix of the two parents and being the youngest, six years old, was Daddy's Princess. She in turn idolized her father, constantly following him around and asking questions. Also, much to Lizzie and Miranda's amusement, Natalie had her father wrapped around her little finger and was often spoiled. Much like Miranda herself, Natalie could talk Gordo into doing a lot of things.

"Oh, I believe you have some money left. Maybe twenty five cents or maybe even a penny," Miranda teased. Gordo rolled his eyes and wrapping his own arms around her waist, pulled her closer, and kissed her.

Meanwhile, inside, Maria was flipping through tv stations as she spied on her older brother. She smirked to herself as she could see Jason trying to hide a smile. "Hey lover boy."

Jason glanced over at her, "What?" he snapped.

"Tell your fiancé I said hi," Maria teased him with a wide grin.

"Shut up skunk head," Jason shot back. A few years ago, when Maria was first experimenting with hair dyes, she somehow gave her black hair white streaks. Since then, Jason called her skunk head whenever she crossed him.

His computer beeped, drawing his attention back to it.

AKC212 : Hey you still there?

LW9 : Yea…Maria is being a pain.

AKC212 : heh, so how's NYC?

LW9 : alright, spend most of my time on set…a little tired and want to hang out a lil before summer practice starts…how's home?

AKC212 : boring…you're in NYC and Bec went on vacation w/ her family…plus, Cait is coming over tonight, so I gotta do the family thing yawn

LW9 : my poor baby…heh

AKC212 : SHUTUP!

LW9 : don't worry. If everything goes according to schedule, I should be back home next Tuesday…when does Bec get back?

AKC212 : late Sunday night I think…I'm gonna call her tomorrow, so I'll find out…

AKC212 : school is in a lil over a month, can't wait…rolls eyes

LW9 : don't remind me, I don't think I've even had a summer break…but its worth it, this time, my dad is paying me for this…not much but still better than workin for free

AKC212 : I hear ya…hang on a min, Mom's yellin at me

AKC212 : groan I gotta get off…the Princess is here…time for the fun to begin…SAVE ME!

LW9 : lol

AKC212 : gtg, ttyl

LW9 : night

AKC212 has signed off

Jason was still grinning to himself as he logged off online, looking up, he saw Maria watching him with a smug grin.

"You've got it bad big bro," Maria teased him.

"Shut up dork," Jason said shutting off the laptop.

Maria's grin slowly faded and a deep thinking look replaced it. "Jay, can I ask you something?" Jason shrugged, so she continued, "Its about Eric."

Jason stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "I don't think I'm the right person to,"

Maria cut him off, "Please, Jay, I'm desperate."

Jason slowly walked over to the couch and sat down on the top of the back of the couch. "Fine. Shoot."

"I've been tryin to get Eric to, you know, notice me as more than a friend, but its not working. Do you think I'm being too subtle?" Maria asked.

Taking a deep breath, Jason tried to answer her the best he could. "Mar, when have you ever done anything subtly?" he asked her sarcastically.

Maria smirked at him. "True. Thanks," she said getting up and making her way towards her bedroom that she was sharing with Natalie. "I knew big brothers were good for something." She laughed as she quickly ducked into her room as Jason threw a couch pillow at her.

Later that night, in the master bedroom, after Miranda laid down in their bed, she smiled to herself as she stared up at the ceiling. For as much as she prided herself on being an independent woman, she couldn't fall to sleep without him next to her.

She hated when Gordo had to go off on assignment somewhere, it always felt like something was missing. So when the chance came up for her and the girls to join him, if even for a week, she jumped at it.

_"It's either sleep alone in my comfortable bed and get no sleep or sleep with him in a crappy hotel bed and sleep well."_

Looking over at the other side of the bed, she snickered. Gordo was sprawled out, dead to the world.

_"I love that goofball,"_ she thought as she rolled over and snuggled closer to him. Resting her head on his chest, she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.


	2. Not Your Average Princess

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 2 – Not Your Average Princess

As Amanda Craft grumpily curled deeper under her covers, she could hear her family downstairs in the kitchen getting breakfast ready. They had woken her twice already and they were getting on her nerves. It wasn't that she hated her family, she loved them, but she always felt like the black sheep of her family.

On the outside, Amanda was a carbon copy of her mother. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a model like body, that Amanda absolutely hated. Unlike her mother, Amanda hated the attention her body gave her; the gawks from the male classmates and jealous, sometimes vicious, whispers of the female ones. She tried her hardest to hide her body, never wearing anything short or revealing; usually jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts and the like. While Kate loved the spotlight, Amanda much preferred to be in the shadows.

Inside, Amanda felt like she was not just in her mother's shadow, but Caitlyn's too. It was hard battling against everyone else's expectations of what she should do. Her mother wanted her to follow her and her older sister and be a cheerleader, but the idea of prancing around in a skimpy outfit and looking like an idiot, just didn't quite appeal to her.

But she did share a strong willed stubbornness that she had defiantly gotten from her mother. Two would clash almost daily on almost anything. Kate felt she was helping guide her daughter through life, while Amanda felt she was trying to turn her into something she wasn't. Its not to say they never got along. When they did, mother and daughter could be the best of friends. But as she got older those days were becoming fewer and far between.

Aside from Rebecca and Jason, she felt most comfortable with her father. She found it a lot easier to talk to her dad about almost anything and he would just listen to her. Father and daughter had a natural chemistry and enjoyed more of the simpler things in life. They could go out to breakfast and talk about almost nothing and enjoy themselves. One of the most important lessons her father had taught her was to be true to yourself and never judge a book by its cover, you could find the most interesting people in the most unusual wrappings. It was because of this, that Amanda believed was one of the reasons why she fell so hard for Jason. Not for who he was on the outside but on the inside. Though she'd never admit that out loud to anyone.

Even half asleep, Amanda could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and guessed that they belonged to her mother. Groaning, she slipped her head under her pillow, wishing and hoping that whoever it was would just walk by and leave her alone. That last thing she wanted to do was to have a happy breakfast with her family. _"That is so not a great way to start the day."_

As if on cue, her bedroom door opened, "Good morning honey," Kate said as she walked into the room. Kate watched with a grin as Amanda groaned and curled up into a ball underneath her covers.

For a few years after returning to Hill Ridge, Kate had tried to make a go of being a reporter but she didn't get anywhere and decided to make a change. Shortly after Amanda was born, Kate had decided to stay home for a little while to be the mother to her daughters that her mother never was to her. She stayed a stay at home mom until Rachel, her third and youngest daughter, entered fourth grade.

After a few failed attempts, she found her dream job. She had been hired by a wealthy businessman, via her mother, to help decorate a new addition to his home. The family had been so happy, they hired her to redo the whole house. Slowly, through word of mouth, Kate soon had a small client list that had her as their own personal shopper and personal decorator. It wasn't much but the pay was good and Kate enjoyed it.

As Kate grabbed the sheet and tried to pull it off her daughter, Amanda kicked her hand away. "Come on Amanda, breakfast is ready and everyone else is downstairs. Caitlyn only as so much time to spend with us, don't you want to spend as much of it together as you can?"

"Wouldn't want to disappoint the Princess," Amanda mumbled into her pillow.

"What?"

Sighing, Amanda kicked off her covers and sat up, "Nothing." After running a hand through her hair, she yawned and stretched.

Kate frowned a little; she had heard what Amanda had said. Kate desperately wanted to be close with her daughters, lacking that same relationship with her own mother. With Caitlyn and Rachel it had been easy but with Amanda, it felt like she was pulling away from her, and it hurt.

Amanda slowly got out of bed and stumbled down the stairs behind her mother.

"If it isn't the walking dead," Rachel said with a snicker.

"Shove it runt," Amanda barked back.

Rachel Craft was the youngest of the Craft girls at thirteen years old. Rachel was a trouble maker and a pain in Amanda's side. It seemed that she loved causing trouble for Amanda, especially when Jason was involved. Rachel had more of her father's features; dirty blonde hair and a cross between hazel eyes with specs of green and blue in them, all mixed with a mischievous grin that always seemed etched on her face.

"Girls," Kate warned. As breakfast progressed, Kate announced that the four girls were going to the spa for a girls day out.

Amanda had to bite her tongue from saying something sarcastic, _"Yea, that's a great idea. I just love having going to the spa. I mean I go there what, like once every never."_ But she settled for a neutral, "Whatever."

While the other three left to get ready, Amanda turned to her father who was sitting at the head of the table sipping his coffee and reading the sports page. "Daddy?" Amanda asked softly.

Ethan snickered, knowing exactly where this was going, and looked up at her. "Yes?"

Not much had changed with Ethan. He was still constantly good nature, almost never lost his temper, and while it had gone away a little, his aloofness would sometimes show through. After working as a teacher for almost nine years, he had become a counselor in the Junior High School.

"Is there any way you can get me out of this?" she begged him.

"Amanda, your mother just wants to spend time with all of her girls. She misses that. Its not gonna kill you," Ethan told her.

"But the spa?" Amanda whined. When Ethan looked at her, as if to say suck it up, she sighed, got up, and angrily walked back upstairs to change.

Ethan chuckled to himself. Living with four women had taught him a lot and two of those lessons was chose your battles and never, ever get in between two of them unless they were going to draw blood.

While the spa had been relatively painless, aside from the fact Amanda was bored and had a slight headache from the inane chit-chat she was forced to participate in with her family and the spa workers. But afterwards, her mom had decided to take the three shopping for clothes. It wouldn't be that bad but Kate and Amanda had very different ideas of shopping.

Amanda would go to Macy's or somewhere and just buy jeans and t-shirts or go to Miranda and Lizzie's store if she wanted something different. But Kate and her sisters loved going to the more trendier and upscale stores compared to Macy's.

Kate had shoved a bunch of skirts into Amanda's hands and then made her try them on. As Amanda looked at her reflection in disgust, _"What the hell color is this? Purple or blue? And who the fuck would wear something this short?"_

A soft chuckle from behind her ripped her out of her thoughts. Amanda turned around and saw Caitlyn. As if reading her mind, "Well, I know of one person who would love to see you in that," she teased.

"Shut up," Amanda shot back but unlike with Rachel, there was no malice. While Amanda felt like she was constantly competing with Caitlyn, she was still the one who Amanda went to for advice. As a teenager girl it was kinda weird to go to your mother about the important stuff and with Caitlyn so much older than her but still her sister, it made her feel more comfortable going to her instead.

Caitlyn had graduated from UCLA and worked in San Diego with a marketing firm as a computer specialist.

As she got older, her blonde hair slowly got darker and not it was almost a light brown. She also grew tall, standing at almost 6'3" without heels and was incredibly beautiful. Like their mother had taught them, Caitlyn had found using her beauty was a very effective weapon in the business world. People often underestimated that gorgeous blonde and had no idea she graduated with a 3.5 GPA.

"I'm surprised you weren't taking people out at the spa."

Amanda smirked, "Believe me I was tempted."

"You and Mom still going at it?" Caitlyn asked concerned.

Amanda just shrugged, "Its like she's doesn't even try to understand me."

"Or maybe you don't try to understand her?"

Rolling her eyes, "Can we talk about something else?"

A wicked grin appeared on Caitlyn's face, "Sure." Looking at her own reflection, "So how are things with you and the hubby?" Caitlyn giggled as Amanda's face went bright red.

"He's in New York working with his dad on a movie."

"You miss him," Caitlyn told her matter of factly. Before Amanda could ask how she could know that, "Its written all over your face. Plus, you get moody when he's not around for awhile."

Amanda smiled softly as she remembered Jason was going to be home soon. "He's coming back in a few days. Do…How do you know…know when you like someone? I mean really like them?"

Caitlyn looked at her for a moment with a small grin. "Trust me Mand. You really like him."

Amanda sighed as she looked at herself. _"Yea but does he really like me?"_

That night, Ethan was sitting on the couch in living room, flipping through channels, when Kate walked in and dropped down next to him. "Somethin wrong?" he asked cautiously, never taking his eyes off of the screen.

"I swear your daughter just loves to be difficult," Kate snarled softly.

Hearing the words, your daughter, immediately triggered alarms in Ethan's head. "Why?"

"I gave her countless great outfits to try on but she found faults with all of them," Kate grumbled as she pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the dull ache in her head. "Its like she gets a kick out of aggravating me."

"Come here," Ethan said as he raised his arm and Kate leaned into his side. Wrapping his arm around her, "Do you give her stuff she'd like or stuff you'd like?" Even though Kate didn't answer, Ethan knew the answer.

"I just miss being with my girls," Kate whined softly. "Caitlyn's in San Diego, Rachel is growing up, and Amanda is…I don't know what."

Ethan gently rubbed her side, "Amanda is just trying to find herself. When she gets a little older, she'll come back, and you two will be inseparable again."

Kate smiled sadly, "I remember when I couldn't get her to shut up." She then laughed softly, "Most of the time, it was Jason this and Jason that. I think every other word out of her mouth was about him." Sighing, "Now she won't even tell me anything."

"She's a teenager babe," Ethan told her. "She'll grow out of it."

_"Just a stage,"_ Kate thought to herself, _"Doesn't mean I have to like it."_


	3. The New Trio

Abuhin, Hockeylover, Brie – Thanks for the reviews. At least I know someone's reading, lol.

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 3 - The New Trio

Sixteen-year-old Rebecca Braden ran around her room in a near panic. She had less than a hour before she had to leave for school and she was still trying to figure out what to wear for her first day. Around her, rejected clothes, scattered everywhere.

Rebecca had her father's light brown hair and brown eyes, but other than that, she was similar to her mother. Rebecca was the eternal optimist, always choosing to see the good in things, even in the darkest of places. Even though she was consider one of the more popular girls in the school, she was still friendly and nice to everyone, regardless of whom they were. But she was also a bit different; Amanda was a little wilder and more willing to take a chance than her mom was. Her wild side often got into her trouble and usually, she dragged the other two into it too. Lizzie often said it was her Uncle's influence.

Unlike Amanda, Rebecca had wanted to be a cheerleader and had been one since Junior High. While at first only going out because of what it represented, being consider cool and supposedly popular, she found out the she really did enjoy it, especially the competitions, and was really good at it too. Now she was co-captain of the varsity squad, which was rare for a junior.

Similar to her mom, she was a hopeless romantic. She believed in true love and that some people were just meant to be; like her best friends. While she did try to stay out of it, every once in awhile, she'd imagine locking them in a closet and not letting them out until they came to their senses.

Ever since Jason had been born, the three of them had been inseparable, even when various interests drew them apart. Rebecca knew she'd be lost without her best friends; they were what not just kept her happy, but grounded. She knew no matter how popular she got, Jason would always be there to give her a hard time or be there when she needed someone to talk to and Amanda was her sister, the girl who would keep her ego in check and share real secrets with. There were things that Amanda and Rebecca knew about each other, that not even Jason did.

While she did really believe her best friends were meant to be together and were just to stubborn to admit, she often wondered why it wasn't meant to be her and Jason. But she tried not to dwell on it, as she never really got an answer she liked.

Quickly looking at her clock, Rebecca swore to herself as she tore around her room, searching for the right outfit. As she was digging in her closet, Lizzie came to the bottom of the stairs and yelled upstairs, "Bec! Jason and Amanda are here!"

"Shit," she swore under her breath. "I'll be down in a minute!" she yelled back.

Lizzie chuckled to herself as she heard her daughter's answer and could hear her rummaging around in her room. Turning around, she walked into the kitchen and grinned to herself as she watched Amanda teasing Jason as he was wolfing down a second breakfast.

Aside from being more confident about herself and maturing a little, she was still the same Lizzie. A bit of klutziness was still there, but as Gordo often said, you can't have Lizzie without the klutz.

Even after more than forty years, the three old best friends were still as close as ever. With her being so close to the Gordon family, the Gordon children affectionately called her Aunt Liz. In turn, Rebecca called Miranda and Gordo, Aunt Miranda and Uncle Gordo. Both families often spent a lot of time together; barbeques, joint vacations, or just nights out together.

While deep down she had always hoped Rebecca and Jason would be the ones to get together, she was thrilled to see Amanda and Jason heading down that path. She was still the hopeless romantic, and even though it wasn't her daughter, she loved watched their relationship develop.

Since Rebecca was her only child, Lizzie had come to think of the two, especially Jason, as her own too and secretly loved it when all three were around the house. Secretly, she wanted a big family but it just wasn't in the cards. Miranda had often joked to her that anytime she got lonely and wanted to baby-sit, call her.

"Aunt Liz," Jason said, pretending to whine, "Make her stop."

Lizzie chuckled, "Amanda, let your boyfriend eat in peace. You'll have plenty of time to play with him afterwards," she said sarcastically. Lizzie than started laughing as she watched Amanda clench her jaw and quickly look down at the table, while Jason coughed and almost choked on the bite he had just taken. _"They're so adorable,"_ she thought amusedly to herself.

An awkward silence fell over the kitchen, as Jason went back to picking at his pancakes that Lizzie had made and Amanda looked down at the counter top, like she was admiring the pattern on it. Lizzie smirked and shook her head as she started cleaning up a little.

A few minutes later, Rebecca came racing down the stairs. "Bec, why do you wait till the last minute to get ready?"

"Not now Mom," Rebecca hissed at her as she quickly grabbed an apple. "Come on guys."

Jason and Amanda stood up and quickly got their stuff together. "Thanks for the food, Aunt Liz," Jason said as he followed the girls towards the door.

"Have a good first day kids," Lizzie called after them. She sighed as she heard Rebecca mumbled something back to her and then heard the door slam. Sighing to herself, she started to gather her stuff for work. _"I remember when she was my constant shadow,"_ Lizzie thought to herself sadly. _"They're growing up way too fast. Soon they're gonna go to college, get married, have kids of their own."_

Lizzie suddenly stopped in front of the door, with her bag and keys in hand. _"Oh god...I sound like my mother," _she thought sarcastically, shaking her head in disbelief before leaving.

Ever since one of the first days of freshman year, Jason, Rebecca, and Amanda have met at the same table in the cafeteria before homeroom. As they reached their table, Jason grinned as he saw his sister at another table, near the entrance. Maria was going to be a freshman this year and was going to the same school as Jason.

Rebecca saw him and followed his line of sight. She snickered as she grabbed Jason's elbow, "Leave her alone."

"Come on. Please," Jason pretended to plead with her, giving her puppy dog eyes. "I'll do anything."

Rebecca smirked, "Anything?" she teased.

Jason laughed softly, "Depends," he teased back, "What ya got in mind?" he shot back with an identical smirk.

As Amanda watched and listened to them, on the outside, she laughed along with them but on the inside, she started getting an uneasy, nervous feeling in her stomach the more Jason and Rebecca played back and forth. She knew that they were just fooling around like they always did, but it still made her uneasy and that's what really scared her.

After the bell rang for homeroom and Jason left the girls to head to his own, Rebecca and Amanda weaved through the halls towards theirs. Since their last names were close, Braden and Craft respectively, they had the same homeroom.

As the made their way, Rebecca glanced at her and snickered. Amanda looked over, "What?"

"You're pathetic, you know that," Rebecca answered with a smug grin.

Amanda almost stopped in the middle of the hall. "What's that supposed to mean?" she practically yelled.

Rebecca had to bite her lip as she tried not to laugh in her face. Grabbing her arm and dragging her into their homeroom, "Girl, I've known you since you were born and normally you are very calm, cool, and collective." she paused and her smirk widened, "Only one thing really gets under your skin and throws you off your game."

"Oh and what would that be?" Amanda asked with a mix of sarcasm and annoyance.

Leaning in a little, "Jason," she answered smugly. As Amanda's face faltered for a moment, Rebecca started laughing under her breath.

As Amanda sat in her seat, "Not everything I do is about Jason."

"No," Rebecca said leaning down against Amanda's desk. "No its not. But you get this like feral look in your eyes when ever you get possessive and jealous and most of the time," she said as she stood up, "its about him." Than before she left to go to her own desk, "By the way, he gets the same look," Rebecca said and than laughed as Amanda tried to glare at her but couldn't stop a subtle blush from appearing.

Around noon, Miranda was hunched over her drawing board, furiously drawing and erasing. As she put her pencil down for a moment, to relax her hand and take a look at what she had done so far, she suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her. Jumping in surprise because she had been so absorbed in her work that she hadn't heard anyone walk in, she also heard someone laughing softly in her ear.

Instantly recognizing it, she smirked, "What did I tell you about coming here? What if my husband finds out?" she teased.

"Than he'll just have to wait his turn," a voice answered and when Miranda laughed, Gordo leaned in and kissed her.

"Do you two ever give it a rest," Lizzie said as she walked in on them. "I've never seen two people paw over each other so much." While on the outside she teased them, but inside, she was very jealous of them.

Miranda just smirked and rolled her eyes. Looking over her shoulder and up at Gordo, "What are you doing here anyway?"

Gordo snickered, "I didn't have much to do today. Larry's still workin on the bugs in the new animation program, so I've basically got the rest of the day off and decided to treat my beautiful wife and our best friend to lunch." He glanced over at Lizzie, "Why don't you call Todd and see if he can join us."

Lizzie shook her head. "There's no way he'd leave his office. Ever since he got that promotion, it's like he lives in that office."

"Liz?" Miranda asked a little concern, she knew that Todd's new job was a very sore spot with Lizzie.

"Its ok. You two go, I gotta take care of the books anyway."

"You sure?" Miranda asked as she walked over to her. As Lizzie nodded, Miranda hugged her, "I'll be back in about an hour."

"Take your time. I can handle stuff for a lil while," Lizzie said as she hugged Gordo goodbye. Watching the happy couple walk out, Lizzie sighed softly. _"I miss that."_ When they had been first married, Todd and her had been like that too but the higher Todd got in his job, the more Lizzie felt ignored. Sighing again, she ran a hand through her hair and walked over to her desk to go over the books for the shop.


	4. In Denial

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 4 – In Denial

It was early October and homecoming weekend for Hill Ridge High School. 

As Amanda Craft sat in the Hill Ridge High School cafeteria poking around at her lunch looking for something edible, she slowly looked up and saw one of her best friends staring back at her with an amused grin. "What?" Amanda asked.

Rebecca Braden just continued to grin at her, annoying the hell out of Amanda. After a few minutes, "Why don't you just tell him?" Rebecca asked her rhetorically.

Amanda swallowed the lump in her throat, "Tell who what?" She knew exactly what she meant but just didn't want to admit it and maybe change the subject.

Snickering softly, "Tell Jason that you want to ravish his body," Rebecca teased and laughed as she saw Amanda's face heat up and look away. "Come on, everyone knows you have the hots for each other. Including you two, just neither of you wants to be the first to admit it. You want nothing more than to throw him on your bed and take him."

Amanda looked down at the table, trying desperately to ignore the mental image. "No I don't," she mumbled as she looked down at her tray and picked at her food some more. Before Rebecca could tease her any farther, they were interrupted.

"Is too much to ask for to have french fries that aren't soggy and a cheeseburger that doesn't look like a piece of rubber," Jason said as he put his tray onto the table and sat down next to Amanda. "You two coming to my game this afternoon?" Jason asked as he grabbed a French fry. Looking at it for a moment, he shook his head in disgust and quickly popped it in his mouth.

"Can't," Rebecca said, "I gotta work on the homecoming parade and then the squad is meeting early before the game." Rebecca was on the varsity cheerleading squad. "You guys are coming to the dance right?" she asked with an evil grin.

When Amanda and Jason groaned, Rebecca laughed at them. "Oh come on."

"I should at least make an appearance, I guess," Jason mumbled. "How about we show up, hang out for a little while and then we can take off."

"I guess," Amanda said and then hearing Rebecca snicker, kicked her under the table.

"You two will do anything to be alone," Rebecca teased as she rubbed her shin. As both of them glared at her, Rebecca just started laughing harder.

That afternoon, as Amanda was sitting in the bleachers at the high school's soccer field watching Jason play, she hadn't realized she was watching him so intently until a voice broke snapped her out of her trance.

"How can you drool over my brother?"

Amanda looked over and grinned as she saw who was sitting down next to her. "Hey," she greeted with a smile.

"Hi," Maria, Jason's sister, said back.

"You're accusing me of drooling? I got here near the end of the JV game and if I remember correctly, you weren't exactly paying attention to the outside world. In fact, I remember you staring, open mouthed, at your own friend," Amanda shot back

Maria smirked at the older girl and laughed a little at herself, "Maybe."

With the other two Tudgeman children, the twins, took after their mother, Eric Tudgeman was his father. He was tall, lanky, and had a quirky, sometimes really offbeat, sense of humor. But underneath the odd, sometime weird exterior, there was really a nice guy that Maria had become close friends with since they were little and lately, that friendship was developing into something else.

Just as they were talking about him, he joined them on the bleachers. "Hello ladies," Eric said with a goofy smile as he sat down next to Maria. "Um, Mar, I was wondering if you were going with anyone to the dance tonight?"

A small smile spread on Maria's lips, "Nope. I just figured we'd go together," she told him matter of factly and chuckled softly at dumbstruck expression on Eric's face.

Amanda grinned as she watched the two the banter back and forth. A few minutes later, the final whistle blew and after a quick team meeting, Jason walked over. "Nice game," Amanda told him. She watched as a small smile spread across his lips. "Just don't let it go to your head," she quickly added.

Jason snickered under his breath. "You want a ride home?"

"I think its only fair after making me seat on these cold, hard bleachers for almost two hours," she retorted with a grin. For a brief moment, the two just looked at each other with identical smiles.

Jason was first to break their stare as he turned his attention to the other two and cleared his throat. Eric glanced at Jason and grinned sheepishly, "I better get going. I'll call you later Mar. Bye," and then he jogged off towards the parking lot where his mother was waiting for him.

Ignoring the way his sister was glaring at him for interrupting them, "I'll meet you two at the gym. I should be out in about fifteen minutes."

As he jogged off towards the locker room, Maria snickered as she saw Amanda watching him run away from them. Rolling her eyes, she walked with her towards the gym.

After dropping Amanda off at her home, which was the house behind them, Maria and Jason walked into their house. As Maria went upstairs, Jason dumped his soccer bag and book bag at the base of the stairs and walked into the kitchen.

Sitting at the kitchen table was his other sister, Natalie. "Hey Nat," he said as he passed her and playful rubbed her head.

Natalie glared at him for interrupting her coloring. After sticking her tongue out at him, returned to her coloring book.

Laughing softly to himself, he put his head into the refrigerator to get something to drink. As he did, he heard his mother's voice, "Jason." Grabbing a soda and shutting the refrigerator, he watched his mother walk into the kitchen carrying a sketch pad. "Are you going to homecoming tonight?"

"The game no, but the dance for a little while. Why?"

Putting the pad on the countertop, "Nat's going to Abuelos' for the night and Maria's going to the game and dance. I wanted to know where you'd be."

"Uh uh," he said sarcastically and giving his mom a smirk; he knew their was an ulterior motive laying beneath the surface. "I'm prolly gonna pick Amanda up around seven thirty and hang out somewhere until the dance."

Pausing in the doorway, he looked at his mom with a smirk, "Just don't give me another sister, ok?" he said sarcastically before walking out of the kitchen.

Miranda rolled her eyes as she watched her eldest walk out. After a moment or two, she heard the back door open and felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist. Miranda smiled as she felt a hand gently pull back her raven locks.

"So everything set for tonight?" a very familiar voice said softly into her ear.

Leaning back against Gordo's chest, "Mmm hmm. My parents pick Nat up in about a half hour, Maria leaves about seven and Jason, a half an hour later." Turning around she looked into her husband's blue eyes, "I'd say we have the house all to ourselves for at least a good three hours," Miranda told him with a devious smile.

"Excellent. You know we should send all of them to our parents for a weekend, give us some more time alone together."

"Down boy," Miranda teased and glanced at Natalie who was too engrossed in her coloring at the kitchen table to pay them any notice.

But they're moment was still interrupted; Maria yelled from her bedroom, "Mom! I need help with my hair."

Miranda chuckled softly. "I'll go help Maria. Can you help get Natalie cleaned up and ready to go?"

"You bet," Gordo nodded and kissed his wife, "Till tonight."

"Tonight," Miranda said to him before heading upstairs to help her daughter.

Gordo smiled to himself as he walked over to the kitchen table, "Come on Nattie," he said using his special nickname for her, "We gotta get you cleaned up before Abuela Sanchez gets here." Natalie looked up at him with a lopsided grin and stuck her arms up at him.

"Nat, you're too big to be carried," Gordo said at first but when Natalie stuck out her bottom lip at him, Gordo's defenses crumbled quickly. "Fine," he said lifting her up. "You know one of these days, thanks to you, your mom is gonna have my head," he teased and Natalie just giggled as she adjusted herself in her father's arms.


	5. Homecoming

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 5 – Homecoming

As Jason walked down the steps, he noticed how quiet the house was. Having two teenagers and a young child, it was rare when the house was this quiet and it wasn't late at night.

Sticking his head into the kitchen, he snickered as he saw his mom dressed up and fiddling with something on the stove. "Mom." Miranda turned around and looked at him, "I'm leaving. What time can I come home?" he asked sarcastically.

His mother glared at him, "You can stay out until midnight."

"Thanks. I'm taking Dad's mustang," he said as he spun the keys on his index finger. He than gave his mother his dad's lopsided grin, "Have fun," he teased.

Miranda glared at him for a moment and then smirked back. "You too," she shot back with a laugh as he started to walk away.

Driving around the corner, he pulled into the Craft's driveway. Slowly walking up to the house, he suddenly found himself nervous and not really sure why. Taking a deep breath, he reached out and rang the doorbell.

A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal the youngest Craft daughter, Rachel. Seeing whom it was, she grinned at him and then turning slightly to the side, yelling into the house, "Amanda! Your boyfriend's here!" As she laughed, she stepped aside to let Jason inside.

"He's not my boyfriend you little runt," Amanda grumbled softly as she came down the stairs. "Hey, you like nice," she said to her best friend as she looked at him. Jason was wearing a plain blue dress shirt, a pair of khakis, and a pair of brown shoes.

Jason grinned a little self-consciously, "You don't look so bad yourself." She had on a pair of black pants, a black blouse, and a pair of black sandals.

Kate walked into the hallway and grinned at the way the two seemed to forget about the outside world. Clearing her throat, she tried not to snicker as they jumped in surprise. "What do you two have planned?"

Amanda shrugged, "Prolly burgers, than the dance for a little while, and then maybe ice cream or somethin."

"Ok. Be home by midnight."

Rolling her eyes, "Yes mom."

"And no making out," Rachel yelled from the living room.

"You little," Amanda started to say but Jason pulled her out the front door. "What I wouldn't give to be the youngest again," she mumbled under her breath and Jason laughed softly. Glaring at him, she smacked him upside the head as they headed for the mustang.

Sitting in the Digital Bean, they were each eating a cheeseburger and talking. The Digital Bean hadn't changed much from when their parents were younger, only updating the look and its technology. It was still one of the top hangouts in Hill Ridge.

"You get Rebecca's birthday present yet?" Amanda asked him. Rebecca's birthday was in a week and Jason always struggled trying to buy gifts for his female best friends.

"I have no idea what to get her. What you get her?"

Taking a sip of her soda, "That dark blue miniskirt she's been babbling about for a month now. How about we go to the mall tomorrow and I'll help you find somethin." Jason groaned a little and Amanda narrowed her eyes at him. "You wanna go by yourself?" she asked sarcastically and Jason grinned a little at her.

After finishing, they headed over to the high school for the dance. When they arrived, the dance had been going on for a little while. As they walked around a little bit, Amanda spotted Rebecca dancing with someone. Giving her best friend a small wave, Rebecca gave her a sarcastic grin seeing her with Jason. Amanda just rolled her eyes.

"I'm gonna get a soda, you want anything?" Amanda asked Jason.

"Yea, a soda. Thanks. I meet you over there," he said pointing to where a group of his teammates were.

"K. I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, Amanda was walking back towards him with two soda bottles when she saw another girl flirting with Jason. She was Lauren Canna, a sophomore and a cheerleader like Rebecca. During one of the cheerleading practices last year, Jason had come over to talk Rebecca and as soon as Lauren saw him, she developed a crush on him.

While she was pretty and nice, she wasn't Jason's type and he tried his best to let her down easy but the problem was she couldn't take a hint. Rebecca had nicknamed her Jason's little stalker. While Amanda laughed on the outside; inside, Lauren and her little crush bugged the hell out of her.

Her hands clenched around the bottles as she watched Lauren gently touch his forearm. Jason gave her a weak grin and then looking away, he saw Amanda. He mouthed help me to her.

Smirking a little, she walked over to them. "Here's your soda Jase," she said and then kissed his cheek.

"Thanks," Jason mumbled a little embarrassed. He just wanted her to come over and chase Lauren away; he hadn't been expecting the kiss. As Lauren walked away defeated by the little exhibition, Amanda glanced at Jason and started laughing softly at him. "What?" he asked her confused.

"You're turning red," she teased. Jason rolled his eyes as he opened the soda bottle to take a drink.

A little bit later, a slow song started playing and Amanda glanced at him. As they sat on the bleachers, she nervously started to tap her foot. Jason noticed her tapping and looked over at her.

Noticing him watching her, embarrassed her a little and the opposite wall seemed to suddenly become very interesting. Jason looked down for a moment and then back at her, "Would you, umm, like to dance?"

Normally she would've teased him cause he didn't like to dance but tonight, Amanda was off guard and wasn't sure how to answer. "Sure."

Leading her out to where the others were dancing, Jason awkwardly held her hips as she put her hands on his shoulders. As they danced, the tension slowly started to build between them.

As the song finished, they slowly let go of each other. "You still wanna get that ice cream?" Jason asked for lack of anything else.

Amanda shrugged, "Yea. I think I've had enough of the dance anyway."

Walking out of the gymnasium, they quietly made their way out to the parking lot. As they reached the mustang, Amanda started giggling to herself. Jason turned to her and looked at her confused.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry," Amanda said as she started laughing a little harder. "I was just picturing how red you turned when I kissed your cheek." Slowly the laughter died down and her lips turned into a small grin. "Makes me wonder what'd happen if I actually kissed you," she teased.

Jason swallowed the lump in his throat and tired to act cool on the outside. "Oh really?" he said with a small smirk. Inside, his pulse was raising, his breathing was getting heavier, and he could almost swear his temperature was through the roof. "Why don't we find out?"

Amanda's heart jumped into a terrifying territory she knew existed but was too afraid to actually go. But like him, she tried to act cool and play it like she knew what she was doing but in actuality, she knew she was playing with fire. Taking a step closer to him, she felt drawn to him in a way she really couldn't explain. "I'm game if you are?" she said softly.

Moving so they were only a few inches apart, "Let the games begin," his voice got deeper and a little huskier. _"Well if that wasn't lame, I don't what is."_

Just as they started closing their eyes and their heads started moving closer, the car's horn honked and they jumped away from each other.

"Idiot!" a familiar female voice yelled from inside the car.

Amanda and Jason turned and looked inside the car. In the back seat were Maria and Eric. "They were gonna kiss and you had to freakin hit the horn!" Maria snarled as she slapped Eric upside the head.

Looking at each other for a moment, Amanda and Jason grinned at each other and shrugged. Neither was really sure what had just happened between them. Than suddenly, something occurred to Jason.

Turning quickly to face the car, he glared at the two teens inside and slamming his palms down on the hood, "What the hell are you two doing alone in the back seat?" he snarled as he gave Eric a look that could kill.


	6. Maria And Eric

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 6 - Maria And Eric

Maria quickly walked through the hallways of Hill Ridge High School and as she rounded a corner, grinned as she saw Eric standing at his locker. Walking up to him, she gently trailed her index finger along the back of his neck and giggled softly as she watched him jump in surprise.

"He...Hey," Eric said nervously as he turned around to face her.

"Hey yourself," Maria answered back with a smirk. "How'd you do on Mr. Fillips quiz?" Mr. Fillips was their math teacher and gave quizzes every Friday.

"Alright I guess."

"Alright?" Maria said sarcastically. "If the number one student only did alright, the rest of us are doomed," she teased as she slowly let her eyes wonder over him, like a cat sizing up it's prey..

Eric snickered, "So Miss. Number Two, how did you do?"

Maria just shrugged. "Good. Hey, after I get off work, can you come over and help me set up my new computer?" Maria asked him, looking into his eyes and smiling softly.

In a clueless manner, "I thought your dad was helping you?" Eric asked back.

Rolling her eyes, "Are you that dense? Or was Homecoming not enough?" Homecoming, when Amanda and Jason had caught Maria and Jason in the backseat of Gordo's mustang, Maria had taken Eric outside, telling him she wanted to talk. Before leaving home, she had taken the spare set of keys to the car.

Maria quickly started flirting with him but before she could really get anywhere, she heard voices, Amanda and Jason's. Trying to hide from them, she jumped into the small backseat and order Eric to do the same. But he tripped and fell, and with his foot, hit the horn.

Maria watched as a blush crept across Eric's cheeks. _"Damn he's cute,"_ she thought to herself, as her smile grew wider.

"I...uh..." Eric babbled, not really able to put a whole sentence together. It frustrated him so much that with a simple look Maria could throw him so far off his game.

As Maria was enjoying watching Eric turn, she quickly spotted someone walking towards them. _"Not now. The last thing I need is big brother getting all protective."_

Just as Jason reached them, Maria saw a flash of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye and than saw Amanda pulling Jason down the hall where he came from. _"Remind me to get her a thank you card. I can't wait till she's really my sister,"_ she thought sarcastically as she watched Amanda pull her reluctant brother down the hall.

Quickly turning her attention back to Eric. He was looking at her with a look that made her shiver slightly but she still liked it. "So you wanna come over or not?" she asked, the smirk never leaving her lips.

Chuckling softly to himself, "What do you think?"

Maria laughed softly. "I gotta get to work or my mom'll kill me." She than quickly leaned in and gave him a small kiss. "See you tonight," she said softly before heading off.

Eric watched her walk away with a smirk, _"So is she my girlfriend now?"_

About a half an hour later, Maria walked into the mother's shop. Miranda, who was standing behind the counter, looked up at her, "You're late chica."

"Sorry," Maria grinned sheepishly at her, "I was talking to Eric."

Miranda smirked at her daughter, "Oh?" As Maria walked into the back office to dump her stuff, "Talking about what?" Miranda asked.

Maria slowly walked back to the front, making sure to avoid eye contact, "Stuff," she said cryptically.

As Miranda laughed, Lizzie came walking into the store carrying a delivery box. "What's so funny?"

"My daughter. She was late cause she was just talking with Eric."

"Oh," Lizzie said in a knowing tone.

"What?" Maria asked trying to be innocent. "I asked him to help me set up my new computer."

"So that's what they're calling it now," Lizzie teased.

"Why don't you believe me?" she asked the two women.

"Because you're her daughter," Lizzie said pointing at Miranda, "Both of you would never ask anyone, especially a boy, to do something for you unless you had an ulterior motive."

Maria blushed and wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole. "Don't you two have something to design or create or anything?"

Miranda laughed softly at her daughter, "Actually we do." Right before she followed Lizzie into the offices, Miranda glanced at Maria, "But this doesn't mean we're done about this."

"Of course not," Maria mumbled under her breath.

That night, as Maria was connecting the wires to the monitor of her new computer, she grinned as she glanced at Eric who was screwing shut the hard drive after making some personal modifications to it. Eric looked up and caught her eyes. Briefly looking away, embarrassed, he grinned back.

"All we gotta do is connect this thing and we'll be ready to load the software."

"Great," Maria said as she stepped aside so Eric could put the hard drive in to it's place. As she watched Eric, she quickly went over a mental checklist of where everyone was. Last thing she wanted was to make a move and be interrupted.

"Mom and Dad are in the living room watching TV. They'll prolly be down there for another hour at least. Nat's there with them, playing with her dolls and she'll stay there till she has to go to bed. And Jason's over at Rebecca's for the next hour or two. Perfect, everyone account for and out of the way."

Smirking, she moved forward and knelt down, like she was going to help Eric. But as soon as she got close enough, she leaned in and kissed him. Unlike at school, when it was just a quick peck, this was a longer kiss.

She giggled softly at the completely surprised, but thrilled, look on Eric's face. "You know...you...you really gotta stop doing that to me," he stuttered.

"Why?" she asked, laughing softly. "I like it."

"You're gonna kill me you know that?" he shot back.

Maria's grin widened, "Is there a better way to go?"

"Umm...The Crandle is showing a marathon of the old Star Wars movies this weekend." The Crandle was an old fashion movie theater on the edge of town that usually showed classic and older movies. "I was thinking, maybe we could go together." As he finished, his voice went into almost a whimper.

"Together, like friends?"

Eric slowly shook his head no. "I mean together, like...uh...a date."

Maria smiled softly at him, "Yea. I'd like to go."

After finishing connecting the hardware, loading the software, and getting the computer up and running, Eric was getting ready to leave. Eric slowly looked up from the floor where he was gathering his stuff to where Maria was sitting at the bed watching him with a smile. _"She's gorgeous when she smiles like that. Ah hell, she gorgeous even when she's ready to rip my head off."_

"Can I ask you something?" Eric asked softly.

"Sure."

"Are you...I mean are we..." Eric paused and took a deep breath. "Can I call you my girlfriend?" he said so quickly that his words jumbled together.

Maria laughed softly and smiled. "Yea," she said simply before getting up and helping Eric finish gathering his stuff. When he was getting ready to leave, Maria stopped him in the doorway and kissed him again. "I'll talk to ya later."

"Right," Eric said with a goofy smile spreading across his face. "Bye."

"Bye." Maria grinned as she watched him walk downstairs.

A moment later, Jason walked up the stairs and saw his sister. Pausing briefly, he glanced back down the stairs to where he had passed Eric and than back to his sister. Grinning and snickering, "God help us," he muttered sarcastically and playfully pushing his sister as he walked past her.

"Bite me dork boy," she shot back. "At least I'm still not drooling over my crush," Maria quickly added as she watched him go into his room.

_"I have a boyfriend!"_ she practically squealed to herself as she walked back into her own room.


	7. Not So Happy Birthday

A/N – _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 7 - Not So Happy Birthday

As Lizzie watched Todd walking around the room, packing for a business trip, she found herself getting more and more angrier. "Damn it Todd," Lizzie snarled, "Its her birthday."

"I know that," he snapped back, tired of this argument already. "But Becky is a big girl, besides she doesn't need me there to have a good time." Todd rationalized; at the very least it made sense in his head. "I bet she won't even notice me not there."

Lizzie glared at him, trying valiantly not to start screaming. "Not notice?" she asked rhetorically. "You're her father, of course she's gonna notice," Lizzie told him as she ran a hand through her hair. "You're gonna blow off your daughter's birthday for some stupid business trip you don't even have to go on?" she asked, her voice starting to get louder.

Todd rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes I had a choice but it'll look good for my career and us in the long run if I go and make sure the presentation goes smoothly. If we get this contract, it'll look very good for me which means it'll be good for us too."

"I am so tired of hearing about what's good or bad for your career! What am I supposed to tell her? Hell, what am I supposed to tell your parents?" Lizzie snapped at him. "I am sick of rearranging this family's schedule to fit around your stupid job. When was the last time you spent any time alone with your own daughter?" she asked sharply.

"Liz, I don't have,"

But Lizzie cut him off with a hand up, "When?" she shouted at him.

"Fine, I don't remember."

"That's my point. You may not act like it but the time you two spend together is important, especially to her. No matter what she says or does you are still her father and she needs you."

As Todd closed his suitcase, he sighed in defeat. "Alright," he said as he closed his suitcase. "I'll spend sometime with Becky, when I get back."

Lizzie stood there for a moment, glaring at him, "When you get back?" Turning hard on quickly on her heels, she violently flung the bedroom door open and stormed out of the room.

_"What the hell?"_ Todd thought to himself. _"Why can't she understand how important this is? I can't trust someone else with this presentation. This contract could be worth millions."_ Grabbing his suitcase, he walked out of the room and downstairs, _"They'll understand that this is for the best interest of our family. I'm not doing it to them but for them. When I get that raise, I'll make it up to them."_

The next day was Rebecca's birthday and her party. This party was more for family and friends of the family; her real birthday party was going to be next weekend with her friends. While it appeared to be a happy occasion, Rebecca could sense the tension buried deep down.

As Rebecca sat in the kitchen absentmindedly playing with a bowl of chips, she carefully watched her mother. Rebecca knew that she was pissed beyond belief at her father but was trying to hide it and not to damper the party or let her know that anything was wrong. Lizzie tried hard to shelter Rebecca from the bad side of her father; in Rebecca's eyes, Lizzie wanted Todd to have almost no faults. But it was hard, cause she did see the reality all too often.

She watched as Gordo walked up to her, said something, and then the two of them walked off into another room. _"They're prolly gonna talk about Dad. I hate it when he piss Mom off so bad."_

Getting up, she slowly made her way into the living room. Standing in the doorway, she watched her Uncle Matt trying to wrangle in her cousins, six-year-old Dana and four year old Sara. They were troublemakers from birth, having instinctively learned how to get into as much trouble as possible from their parents. Rebecca remembered Grandma McGuire saying, _"Its karma that he now as kids that were exactly like him and its fitting that they are two girls."_

"You ok?" a voice asked behind her.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw her Aunt Melina looking curiously at her. Putting on a fake smile, "Yea, I'm fine. Just watchin Uncle Matt trying to keep Dana and Sara from demolishing the living room." After breaking up and going to separate colleges, Melina and Matt had bumped into each other a few years ago and almost instantly started dating again. Almost a year after they hooked back up, they eloped to Vegas and were married.

Not really buying her niece's answer, Melina decided it was better not push any further, at least for the time being. Nodding a little, Melina walked past her and into the living room.

Rebecca smiled sadly as she watched her cousins come rushing over to their mother and Melina playfully teasing Matt. Walking away, she slowly made her way out to the backyard. She saw both sets of grandparents, her aunts, uncles, and cousins from her dad's side, Miranda, the Crafts, and even the Tudgemans. Of course her best friends were there too.

Jo was the first one to see her. "How's the birthday girl? How's it feel to be seventeen?" she asked as she crushed her granddaughter in a bear hug.

"Fine Grandma," Rebecca said as she tried to breathe. _"For such a small woman, she has a vice like grip."_

"Having fun honey?" Sam asked as he pried his wife off their granddaughter.

"Yea. It's a great party," she answered putting the fake smile back on.

"It a shame your father had to take that business trip," Sam said and Jo glared at him for a second as she cleared her throat.

Rebecca couldn't help but notice a slight edge to her grandfather's voice when he talked about her father. It was something she was noticing more and more from the McGuire side of her family; they weren't exactly thrilled with how they perceived Todd was treating his family. Rebecca was confused about it; on one hand, he was her father, but on the other, she was starting to agree.

As the party was winding down and almost everyone had left, Rebecca sat on the patio steps in the back of the house. She was starring at a beer she was holding that she had swiped when no one was looking.

"Hey," Jason said as he sat down next to her. Noticing the beer, he took out of her hands and opening it, took a drink.

"Since when did you start drinking?" she asked sarcastically as she watched Jason grimace and turn his head to spit it out on the ground.

Tossing the almost full can into a nearby trashcan, "Same time you did," he shot back. He looked at her curiously, "You alright?" She was about to give him the same answer she had given all day, but he cut her off. "And don't give me that bullshit you've been saying all day. I know you." Rebecca shut her mouth and just shrugged.

"Its your dad, isn't it?" Jason asked. Rebecca looked down at the ground and fidgeted with her hands. Jason closed his eyes and tried to figure out what his next step should be.

"I could really care less that he blew off my party but...its like it's becoming a habit. I think I've seen him like twice in the past two weeks," Rebecca told him. Slowly looking over at Jason, "Isn't the kid supposed to not hang out with the parents, not the other way round."

Jason just shrugged, when Rebecca or Amanda started getting really emotional over stuff, Jason got nervous and was never really sure what to do. He became self conscious, which often got him into trouble and a bigger problem.

"I mean can't he see what he's doing?" she asked, her voice cracking a little. "Can't he see what he's doing to my mom? He's hurting her, she hides it well but I can tell its there."

While she wasn't crying, Jason could tell she was really upset. Cautiously reaching out, he wrapped an arm around him. He was startled a little when Rebecca moved closer and leaned into him. Sighing softly, he tightened his hold on her. _"Now what the hell do I do?"_

Moments later, Amanda walked through the back door outside onto the patio. He found Jason holding Amanda closely and it caused an all too familiar jealous feeling inside her. _"Cut it out. They're just friends. Besides, it's not like you and Jason are anything other than friends either."_

"Hey guys. What's going on?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as normal as possible.

Jason looked up at her, "Hey. Uh," he stuttered, not really sure what to tell her.

"Hey," Rebecca said. "Its nothin, Jason was listening to me bitch about some stuff."

"Bec," Jason started but Rebecca cut him off.

"Its alright, I'm fine now," she told him.

Shaking his head, _"Been friends with them my whole life and I still can't figure them out."_ Standing up, "Well than, I'm going inside."

When Jason left, Amanda took his spot next to her on the steps. Rebecca snickered, "You've got the look again," she teased. Amanda quickly looked away. "You know you shouldn't be jealous of me. I'm the one who should be jealous of you."

"Why?"

Rebecca sighed and leaned back against the higher step. "Cause you're not an only child, your dad is actually involved in your life," she paused, smirked, and looked back towards the door, "and you're gonna get the guy."

"I guess. But sometimes, it isn't all its cracked up to be," Amanda told her.

"Neither is being popular," Rebecca snickered, "Sometimes, I think about what if I could go into the past and change something and then see how it would play out now."

"What would you change?"

"I'd go back to when our parents were our age and I'd make sure that my mom and Gordo never broke up. They'd stay together and after college get married. I'd be their second child. I'd have an older sister and a younger brother," Rebecca said as she told Amanda her dream.

"What about Jason?" Amanda asked.

"He'd still be here, just a little different. Miranda would marry someone else and they'd have Jason. Instead of Gordon, he'd be umm, Jason Vasquez," she said with a small giggle.

"It's a good dream, I guess," Amanda said.

Rebecca snickered, "Don't worry, its just a dream. I like Jason just the way he is too," she than quickly added, "Just a little differently." When Amanda glared at her, she just laughed. Even though she tried to laugh it off and liked teasing Amanda about it, she was jealous that not just a guy like Jason liked her, but that Jason himself liked her.

"Wanna go see if there's any cake left?" Rebecca asked.

"With Jason in there, I doubt it," Amanda joked and they both laughed.

As the girls got up and walked back inside, Rebecca tried hard to push her father's no show out of her mind. Instead, she'd focused on the good stuff. Her grandparents had given her a lot of cool stuff, her mom had promised that just the two of them would go to the spa tomorrow, and her friends were here and they always made her smile. But still, it was hard to ignore her father's missing presence.


	8. Caught Between Friendship And Love

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 8 - Caught Between Friendship And Love

It was a few days before Christmas and Jason was wandering through the Hill Ridge business district. The past few weeks had been very awkward between him and Amanda. It was like this big question was hanging in the air. They were stuck between being just best friends and being a couple. Both were scared to even approach the subject, so neither brought up their near kiss during homecoming.

After his unsuccessful shopping trip, he stood at his window and looked across his backyard to the house that was behind his. _"What the hell am I gonna do?"_ Walking away and out of his room, he slowly made his way downstairs. He needed advice and the one man that would be the biggest help was living under the same roof.

Pausing at the door of his father's office, he tired to squash the nervous feeling. While it was odd for a teenager to go to their parents for advice, especially on dating, this wasn't ordinary. Taking a deep breath, he slowly reached out and knocked. Hearing a muffled come in from inside, Jason opened the door and walked inside.

"Hey Dad. What ya doing?" Jason asked, trying to think of the best way to start the conversation.

Gordo looked away from his laptop and at his son as he slowly started to pace back and forth. "Editing Tudge's screenplay. Something you wanted to talk about?" he asked as he folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair.

Jason snickered and sat down in the armchair on the other side of the desk. The problem with being like your father, you shared a lot of the same mannerisms and could often read each other. It made getting away with things a lot harder.

"What's it like dating your best friend?" Jason asked suddenly. Gordo chuckled under his breath and Jason tried to glare at him but couldn't help but snicker. "I figured you'd be the guy to go to seeing as how you'd have the most experience," he said sarcastically. Like his father, Jason used humor to try and defuse tense situations.

"It can be weird at first." Gordo told him. "You and Amanda?"

Nodding, he rolled his eyes as he heard his father laugh. "How?"

_"Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."_ Gordo grinned at him, "You two have been walking on egg shells around each other for weeks now. What happened?"

"I don't know," Jason said as he slouched in the chair. "One minute we were hanging out, next thing I know we're about to kiss."

"That a bad thing?" Gordo asked trying not to snicker or smirk.

Shrugging, "I don't know. Its like before that moment, I hadn't given it much thought. But now, I can't get it out of my head." Putting his head in his hands and let out a deep breath, "I'm giving myself a headache."

Snickering, "Welcome to the club," Gordo said. "Look, I can't exactly tell you what to do. I do know, that ever since a certain blonde haired girl first saw you, she's been attached to your side ever since. Just don't let the fact she's your best friend scare you away."

"Talking from experience?" Jason said sarcastically.

Gordo laughed, "If I can survive your mother, you can survive Amanda."

Jason snickered, "Thanks Dad."

"Anytime," Gordo said and then watched Jason walk out. A few moments after he left, someone else walked in.

"So you survived me?"

Gordo looked up with a grin, "You gotta admit, you are like a hurricane. Incredible power and unpredictable," he teased.

Miranda glared at him and walked around the desk. "That all?"

Pulling her onto his lap, he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Unbelievably gorgeous," he said and kissed her.

Wrapping her arms around her husband's neck. "How long do you give them?" Miranda asked with a smirk.

Gordo chuckled as he kissed Miranda again. "They're getting close. I think they realize what could be there and it scares them a little. Something is gonna have to push them over the cliff."

Miranda pulled her head back slightly, "And what exactly pushed you over the cliff?"

"You remember when you got the letter from the jackass," he said and for a moment, anger flashed in his eyes at the thought of Ryan.

Miranda pressed her forehead against his, "Gordo," she said softly and gently stroked his head.

"When I saw you curled up on your bed with those tear tracks on your face, something inside of me just wanted to hold you and make everything better. At the moment, there was nothing more I wanted than to be with you."

Miranda smirked, "You're a dork." Her smirk widened into a smile, "But you're a sweet dork and you're mine," she said as she rested her head on Gordo's shoulder. "Amanda's got Kate's strength, I think she can handle a Gordon," she joked. Gordo snickered and pulled her closer. As he kissed the side of her head, Miranda chuckled softly in his arms.

A few days later, Jason walked around the block carrying Amanda's Christmas gift and he was trying to keep himself from throwing up. His stomach felt like it was one large knot. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his nerves.

Reaching the Crafts' house, he looked skyward for a moment before reaching out and ringing the doorbell.

A minute later, the door opened to reveal a disheveled Amanda. Seeing who it was, Amanda let out a low shriek before slamming the door shut in Jason's face.

The expression on Jason's face was a mix between confusion and weird amusement. _"What the hell?"_

Then just as quickly the door opened to reveal Amanda again, this time a little bit more organized with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and wearing a sweater over the beat up t-shirt she had been wearing the first time she opened the door. "He, Hey," she said nervously as she picked at her outfit trying to act cool.

Jason arched his eyebrows, "You're not gonna slam the door in my face this time?" he asked sarcastically.

"Of course not," she said calmly but he could see a little tinge of pink in her cheeks. As Amanda stepped aside and Jason walked inside the house.

"Um, I got your Christmas gift," he said showing her the package he held.

She gave him a nervous smile, "I got your Hanukah gift too." She started for the stairs, "I'll be back in a minute." Amanda practically ran upstairs to her room.

As he waited for her to come back, he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. It was normal for the parents to find at least one of the new trio in the other's houses as they spent a lot of time together. Putting her gift on the seat next to him, Jason leaned back and closed his eyes as he tried to relax.

A few minutes later, he felt the couch bounce slightly and heard a soft giggle. "I leave you alone for three minutes and you fall asleep."

"I'm not asleep, just a little tired," he shot back.

Amanda snickered and smirked at him. "Well, anyway, here's your gift," she said handing him a small wrapped package.

Opening the package, he grinned. "You're kidding me right?" he asked sarcastically. The gift was a burned cd of numerous pop songs.

Amanda grinned back at him, "Well someone has to bring your music tastes up to the present."

"My music tastes are fine."

Laughing, "Do you have anything that wasn't sung before our parents were born?" she teased with a knowing smile.

"Fine," he grumbled. "Open your gift."

Amanda tore off the wrapping pair and opened a small box, inside was a purple watch. Amanda looked at him with a smirk. "A watch?"

Jason chuckled under his breath, "Maybe now you'll actually be on time for something," he teased her with a matching smirk.

Amanda rolled her eyes at him and put the watch on her wrist. Falling into an uneasy silence, Amanda started toying with the watchband and Jason intently looked at his fingernails. "You wanna watch TV or something?" she asked softly, trying to find something, anything for them to do.

"Sure," Jason answered almost as softly.

Grabbing the remote, Amanda flipped through the channels until finally settling on something. Neither was really watching what was on TV but just trying to distract themselves from the growing tension and attraction between them. They both felt the growing pull between them but they were completely unsure of what to do about it. The only thing they knew was it was getting stronger.


	9. Only A Matter Of Time

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 9 - Only A Matter Of Time

Miranda smiled as she linked her arm with Gordo's as they walked down the street. It was Valentine's Day and they just had dinner at Little Naples. As they slowly walked down the street towards where they parked, Miranda glanced up at her husband. She snickered softly to herself and Gordo looked over at her. With a smirk, he gave her a look.

"I was just thinking," Miranda paused for a moment with a playful smirk dancing across her lips, "you think it was a good idea to leave them home alone."

"Don't worry about it," Gordo reassured her, "Maria and Eric won't try anything, Jason and Amanda are there."

"I wasn't talking about Maria," Miranda said with a small laugh and Gordo snickered. "Of course, we still have our little spy."

"Natalie," Gordo said with a small smile, "You know she's my favorite."

"Only cause she can't date yet," Miranda said sarcastically and nudged him in the ribs as they both laughed.

As they continued to walk down the street, coming in the opposite direction was Kate and Ethan. Miranda grinned, "Well, if it isn't our future in-laws."

Kate laughed at Miranda's comment. "Hey guys," she said as they walked up to them. "We have to talk about your son's intentions towards my daughter," Kate teased Gordo.

Miranda snickered. "Our son's intentions?" she asked sarcastically back, "What about your daughter's? It seems like she lives at our house now." The two mothers started laughing. "So how much longer do you think it'll take?"

"I think it'll be soon, very soon. I've seen the way Jason as been looking at her," Kate said with a small grin.

Ethan scowled, "So have I."

Kate snickered, "Ethan. Amanda as been looking back at him the same way," she told her husband but Ethan continued to scowl.

"What can I say my son as good taste."

"Gordo," Miranda said with a smirk and playfully punching him in the arm.

"What?" he asked, as he then snickered. "Not like that. Amanda is a pretty girl but I wasn't just talking about how she looks." He casually looked over at Kate, "Though it doesn't hurt," he said sarcastically, implying how much mother and daughter looked alike.

Kate laughed and rolled her eyes. Ethan looked at Gordo, "Dude, stop hitting on my wife." All four of them started laughing.

"Seriously," Gordo said, "Amanda is a smart, funny, and a very intelligent girl and is a great match for Jason."

"True. Gordon men need an equal, a strong woman, someone who won't put up with their crap, and knock their egos down a notch or two," Miranda teased him. "Amanda is a perfect fit."

"Keep it up Sanchez," Gordo joked, using an old nickname. Miranda just smiled innocently at him.

"I hate to break up this match making session but we got reservations," Ethan said aloud, but more towards Kate.

"We better get going too," Miranda said. She looked at the two fathers whose minds had drifted to wondering what their daughters were doing. "Gotta get home and breakup that orgy." Miranda and Kate both laughed while Gordo and Ethan glared at their respective wives. Saying goodbye, both wives dragged their respective husbands along down the street in opposite directions.

Meanwhile, back at the Gordon's house, the children were sitting in the living room, watching some of the movies from Gordo's collection.

Amanda snickered as she saw Jason glare across the room to where Maria and Eric were sitting on the floor. They were cuddling under a large blanket and it was annoying Jason to no end.

Leaning over, Amanda whispered into his ear, "How long are you going to stare at them?" she teased.

"They're too close," he hissed.

Amanda giggled softly and elbowed him. "They're dating."

"So?"

"You're hopeless," she giggled softly, "She's not a little girl anymore."

"She's still my little sister."

Before Amanda could respond, Maria's voice interrupted them, "I'm not your little sister, I'm your younger sister," she snapped at her older brother. Jason glared at her and Maria defiantly glared back. Glancing at Amanda for a second, she looked back at Jason and smirked at him, a smirk much like her mother's, "Besides, atlas I'm not scared to go get what I want."

Grumbling softly, Jason ignored his sister and returned his attention to the TV. Amanda continued to look at him for a moment and being very thankful the room was dark except for the light from the TV. She was blushing; she knew exactly what the comment from Maria meant.

After a few minutes, Amanda looked over at him again but this time, her attention was drawn to the person sitting on his other side. Little Natalie was struggling to stay awake, fighting against her dropping eyelids, as she sat slumped against Jason side with Jason's arm protective wrapped around her.

"Nat, I think its time you went to bed," Jason said softly.

"No!" she whined softly. She loved hanging out with her older brother and sister because it made her feel grownup.

"Come on," Jason said as he stood up and picked her up. She just whimpered softly and rested her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I'll help you," Amanda said as she stood up and gently stroked Natalie's head. Natalie, being the youngest of all the children and most likely the last, was like the little sister to everyone.

As Amanda and Jason walked out of the room with Natalie, Maria grinned and calling after them, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Amanda stopped Jason from turning around to snap back and gently pushed him towards the stairway. As soon as they were out of sight of the living room, Maria quickly looked over at Eric and grinned. Leaning in, she started to kiss him. Just as the kiss started to grow in intensity, someone clearing their throat interrupted them.

Irritated, Maria pulled back and looked over, "Jason, I told you I'm not..." But instead of looking at her brother, she found herself looking at an amused Miranda and a very irritated Gordo. "Uh, hehe, hi Dad, Mom."

Meanwhile back upstairs, Jason had tucked Natalie into her bed and was kneeling next to it until she fell asleep. Amanda watched this from the doorway with a huge smile. She thought he looked adorable. _"I wonder what he'll look like with our kids."_

As soon as she thought it, Amanda felt her stomach tighten, _"What the hell? We're not even dating and I'm thinking about us having kids."_ But when Jason leaned in and kissed Nat's forehead, _"But he's gonna be a great dad, just like his."_

As they stood out in the hallway, neither was really sure what to say and both were trying hard to ignore the fact that his bedroom was very close. After opening their mouths several times with no words coming out, Maria came sprinting up the steps and by them. She only said two words before sliding into her room. "Dad's home."

Jason watched Maria's door slam shut and then realizing what her words meant, he slowly started to chuckle. When Amanda gave him a questioning glance, he explained. "Think about it. What do you think they were doing done there?"

Getting it and imagining Gordo's face at possible catching them, she started laughing too. Sobering a little, "I better get home." Jason nodded and as they shared a hug, both had to fight the urge to not let go. "Night," she said very softly, almost in a whisper.

"Night," he said hoarsely as he watched her walked down the stairs.

A little while later, as Miranda and Gordo were getting ready for bed, Gordo was mumbling to herself. Miranda was highly enjoying this; she wasn't exactly pleased that her daughter had been making out with someone, alone in the living room. But she knew Eric very well, and that Maria probably started it.. "She's not your little girl anymore."

Gordo gave his wife a murderous glare. "I swear I'll castrate that boy."

Miranda just rolled her eyes. "Its Little Tudge. The kid wouldn't hurt a fly. Besides, we both know, their is no one that makes Maria do anything she doesn't want to."

Giving her a smirk, "Much like her mother," he said as they laid down in their bed. She smirked back at him before snuggling up to him.

"Besides, I'd be more concerned about Kate's daughter seducing our innocent son," she said sarcastically. Seriously, Miranda loved Amanda like a second daughter. While she had hoped it'd be Rebecca he'd fall for, as they all got older, she realized they were a perfect pair.

Laughing softly, "That poor boy as no idea what trouble he's in," Gordo said. When Miranda kneed his side, he just laughed harder. "But I wouldn't trade it for anything," Gordo said as he kissed Miranda and they slowly drifted off to sleep.


	10. Time To Get What You Want

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 10 - Time To Get What You Want

Amanda and Rebecca were in Amanda's room as they were supposed to be studying for their science test that they had tomorrow but their books were lying on the floor, ignored. Instead, they were lying on the bed, flipping through a fashion magazine and looking at prom dresses.

"What do you think of the sky blue dress?" Rebecca asked as she pointed to one of the dresses on the page.

Amanda scrunched her face up, "The color's too light. You need a darker color."

As she flipped the page, Rebecca glanced at her and smirked, "So lover boy ask you yet?" she teased.

"Shut up," she said as she playfully pushed her. "What makes you think he'll ask me?"

Snickering, "Besides the fact he follows you around like a lost puppy?" she said sarcastically.

Trying to hide the smile creeping onto her lips, "He does not."

"Oh come on. Its so obvious and you're not much better," Rebecca told her with a playful grin.

Amanda rolled her eyes, "Shut up."

"She's right you know," a third voice said from the doorway. Both girls looked over at the doorway and watched Caitlyn and Sasha walk into the room; they had been visiting their respective homes for that weekend. While Caitlyn was in Los Angeles, Sasha was breezing through Stanford en route to her master's degree in biology.

"Oh, I have to deal with you too," Amanda said to her stepsister. "Come on, me and Jason are just friends, best friends."

As Sasha sat down at Amanda's desk, "Famous last words."

"This coming from someone who's in love with not just an older man but a married one," Amanda shot back.

As the other girls giggled, Sasha glared at Amanda. "I am not in love with Gordo."

"Oh please don't start this again," came another voice from the doorway. "I just ate." The four girls turned their attention to Maria who was in the doorway now. They all started laughing.

Maria flopped onto the bed, behind Rebecca and Amanda. Sasha folded her arms across her chest. "For the last time, I am not, nor ever have been, in love with Gordo. The guy is like a second father to me," she said scrunching her face in disgust.

"Ok, ok. We believe you," Rebecca said sarcastically and ducked a pillow that Sasha threw at her. "Besides I think Aunt Miranda would kill her if she did." The room erupted in laughter again and Sasha just rolled her eyes.

Caitlyn grinned, "I got a question, which mom do you think the guys think about?"

Rebecca snickered, "Its gotta be your mom. I mean why else would all the guys spend so much time here," she said looking back at Caitlyn.

"I think its Miranda," Amanda answered suddenly.

The other girls looked at her curiously. After a moment, Maria asked her, "Why do you think it's my mom?"

"Come on, your mom has it all. She's gorgeous, smart, can cook up a storm. You are so lucky; you look so much like her. I'd love to look like her," Amanda answered and Maria smiled softly.

"Come on Manda," Caitlyn said, "You're hardly ugly."

"Yea," Rebecca added. "Your mom's gorgeous too and you're like basically her twin. You could get any guy you wanted." She then smirked, "Of course why would you need to when you've already got him."

"Hey! I told you I just ate," Maria said sarcastically and the other girls snickered. "You know as big of a pain in the ass my brother can be, its so obvious that you two have the hots for each other. Why are you waiting for him to make the first move?"

Amanda turned around and looked at her. "There's no way I could make the first move."

"Why not? Aren't you the one who just said you wished you were more like my mom," Maria stated. "My mom would never wait for something she wanted. She'd go out there and grab it. Who do you think actually runs things at my house? My dad?" she asked sarcastically.

"Ok. How?" Amanda asked.

Caitlyn grinned, "We wind him up and watch him go," she said sarcastically. "You know Maria's Quinceanera party; Maria, your mom and Lizzie are making the dresses for the girls in the party right?" she paused long enough for Maria to nod. "If we get it made just right," by now a large grin was spreading across Caitlyn's face, "we could make Amanda a knockout and have Jason drooling, eating out of her hand all day."

"And that's different from any other day?" Maria joked with a smirk and the room laughed. Sobering a little, Maria nodded, "I'll ask my mom tonight, I'm sure she'll say yes."

Amanda looked nervous but the other girls thought it was a great idea. _"What the hell am I getting myself into,"_ Amanda thought to herself. As the other girls were talking about their plan, Amanda tried hard to squash the nervous butterflies in her stomach. Yea she liked Jason as more than a best friend but actually taking the step was a whole other story.

A few days later, Rebecca, Maria, and Amanda were in the backroom of Miranda and Lizzie's shop. The shop, while remaining small, had become successful. As Amanda stood on a little footstool, Lizzie slowly walked around her, making small adjustments to her dress.

"Are you sure about this?" Amanda asked nervously as she watched Lizzie circle her again.

"Of course," Rebecca said. "Trust me."

"Last time you said that, I was grounded for a week," Amanda shot back.

Lizzie snickered as she made some notes in a notepad and Rebecca glared at her mother for a moment before turning her attention back to her best friend. "After we're done with you, he won't be able to keep his hands off you."

"Ya mind?" Maria said sarcastically. "I really don't need the mental image."

"He better keep his hands to himself," Miranda said as she walked into the back room offices.

Lizzie glanced up from her pad at Miranda. "If the son is anything like the father, you're gonna have to hose him down," Lizzie teased with a grin and Miranda glared back at her but couldn't hide the small grin.

"Its bad enough we're talking about my brother, do we really need to bring my dad into this too," Maria whined.

Rebecca grinned, "I think it's cute."

"I think its nauseating."

Miranda looked over at her daughter, "Sorta like finding your daughter making out with her boyfriend in the living room?" Miranda asked sarcastically. Maria quickly looked down, trying to hide her embarrassment. Rebecca and Amanda looked at her and snickered.

"So how is Little Tudge?" Rebecca teased.

Luckily for Maria, Caitlyn walked in, providing a distraction from her. "I got the shoes," Caitlyn said with a grin.

"What shoes?" Amanda asked cautiously.

Caitlyn's grin widened as she looked at her younger sister. "You look great."

Amanda's eyes narrowed at her, "What shoes?" she asked again.

"A pair of Mom's backless heels," she said with a grin as pulled the shoes out of the box.

"Oh hell no," Amanda snapped. "There is no way I'm wearing those damn things."

"Come on Mand. I know they're a bitch to wear but do you want to just look good or have Jason drooling like an idiot," Caitlyn told her.

"I hate you."

Caitlyn grinned, "I know but you'll thank me later."

"Someone explain to me why I'm doing this again?" Amanda asked.

"Cause if you didn't, you'd be spending the next five years drooling over each other, denying it, and basically annoying the hell out of everyone else," Rebecca answered sarcastically. "This little clueless crush was amusing for the first five minutes but now its just boring."

Amanda glared at her best friend and rolled her eyes. "Thanks," she shot back equally sarcastically. "Bec, how come you never had a crush on Jason?"

Rebecca snickered, "Cause he's like my dorky younger brother. Besides, last time I just kissed him on the cheek," she said and pointed to her chin and a very faint and small scar that was barely visible, "you gave me this."

Amanda grinned sheepishly as she remembered. When they were about six years old, Rebecca had just kissed Jason on the cheek, curious as to what it was like to kiss a boy, when Amanda had come out of nowhere and shoved Rebecca hard into the Gordon's kitchen table.

Sighing, she took a deep breath and tried to relax. Even though everyone else seemed confident about this, and she was more than positive that Jason liked her as much as she did him, she was still having her doubts about this so called plan.


	11. Winding Him Up

hockeylover - Thanks for the help on the dresses.

PinkPrincess – Thanks for the details about Quinceaneras.

A/N - _"Thoughts"_

Chapter 11 - Winding Him Up

As she sat at one of the tables, Amanda grinned to herself as she rubbed her sore ankles. The so-called plan, was working flawlessly. Jason's slack jaw expression when he first saw her was going to be forever engrained in her memory. _"He looked so cute, standing there all awe struck."_

Her dress was a dark purple, wrap style dress that tied around her waist. It had quarter sleeves, the neckline plunged into a shallow v, and it fell to just below her knees. Lizzie and Miranda had tailored the dress so it beautifully accented her body, fitting everywhere perfectly. She was also wearing a simple gold chain necklace with a small heart shaped pendant and small gold hoop earring. The backless heels, even though were killing her legs, were a nice touch. Every time she stumbled, it meant the tighter she had to hold Jason and he didn't seem to mind it either. That was a definite added plus to the heels.

As Jason walked up to the table and put a cup of soda in front of her, her eyes wondered over him. He had on a black suit with a white dress shirt and a black and silver striped tie. _"Damn he looks good,"_ she thought to herself as she bit her lip.

"You look nice," Jason said as he sat down next to her.

Amanda smirked at him, "Thanks…again."

"Uh?"

You've said that like five times already," she told him, "Not that I mind constantly hearing it," she teased with a small giggle as Jason looked away embarrassed. As she let her eyes wonder over his body again, she tried hard to hide her smirk. "You clean up nice too." For a moment, they looked at each other and grinned.

After a moment of rare awkward silence between the two, Amanda tried to think of something to talk about. "You parents really went all out for this didn't they?"

"Yea," Jason said as he slowly looked around. "My mom said it was a very important part of our culture. She said it was originally meant that a girl was ready to be introduced into society, ready to be married. But now, it's like a rite of passage, I guess."

"Sorta like your Bar Mitzvah," Amanda said and Jason nodded. The silence returned.

He was trying his hardest not to stare at her but every five seconds he found himself glancing at her. "Damn, she looks good in that dress," he mumbled under his breath and thanked god that Amanda hadn't heard him.

Jason couldn't understand why he felt so uneasy around Amanda, but he was. He was pretty sure Maria and the other girls were behind them being coupled together and why Maria had been so insistent on him being one of her glances.

"Umm…,"Jason fidgeted nervously in his chair, "You wanna dance?" When Amanda looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he shot her a grin, "I promise not to step on your toes. Well, at least not purposely."

"Ok." Than the words just seemed to slip out of her mouth, "Just keep your hands above my waist." As soon as she heard herself say it, the smirk vanished and a look of horror replaced it. While she had meant it as a tease, in truth, she hadn't meant to say it at all. Luckily, Jason choose to ignore it, cause he wasn't sure how to answer it. Instead, he stood up and waited for her to do the same.

As they were walking towards the dance floor, one of Amanda's heels slipped out again. As her legs buckled from lack of support, Jason quickly grabbed her around her waist and held her against him; Amanda could feel her heart skip a beat.

"You ok?" Jason asked her.

His voice's softness in her ear sent a shiver down her spine. "Yea, yea. I'm ok," she said as she regained her balance and they walked out onto the dance floor.

If getting out there had been a task, trying to figure out what to do next was harder. Holding each other awkwardly, neither was sure what they were doing. Finally, Amanda stepped forward, leaving barely a gap between them and laid her arms on his shoulders, and bending them around his neck. He responded by loosely wrapping his arms around her waist.

Grinning at each other, as they both liked holding each other like this; they tried to dance to the music but basically just ended up swaying a little side to side. But neither really cared as they were far too preoccupied with each other to notice.

A few feet away, Maria watched Amanda and her brother with a grin. As she watched them bump into each other a few times, she snickered softly.

Maria's dress was the same style as Amanda's but was a lighter purple and was wearing a simple pair of matching pumps. She also had on a simple gold chain necklace with a butterfly and letter M pendants. She was also wearing a pair of diamond earrings her mother had given her as a present.

Eric, who Maria was dancing with, pulled back a little and looked at her, "What?"

Maria smiled and shook her head, "Its nothing, really."

Shrugging, he grinned back at her, "So enjoying your day Princess." He had been calling her that all day, especially after they put a tiara on her head.

"You keep calling me that and I beat your sorry ass," Maria told him. "I'm starting to regret choosing you as my chambelán."

"Oh? Who else are you going to beg to do it?" Eric teased back.

Maria smirked, "Well, I could've asked Derrick Maynard. But then you'd get jealous, do something stupid, and get your butt kicked." Eric glared at her and Maria just snickered. "Than I would've had to listen to you whine and," Before Maria could continue, Eric kissed her. "And where did we learn that little trick?" she asked sarcastically.

"You," he answered simply with a smug grin.

At the main table, a little off to the side of the dance floor, Miranda sat with a smile as she watched her two children. Feeling a pair of hands gently rest on her shoulders, her smile widened.

"Your daughter is up to something," he whispered to her.

"What makes you say that?"

Gordo grinned and wrapping his arms around his wife's shoulders, gently kissing the top of her head. "That smile. You get the same one when you're scheming." Gordo's grin widened as he heard Miranda laughing. _"I love that sound."_

"Well than, what about your son?" she said, pointing over to the other couple. Amanda and Jason were standing close together, off to the side on the other side of the room.

"If he's my son, than we should be more worried about what Amanda is gonna make him do." Gordo than leaned down, so that his lips were near her ear, "By the way, nice work on the dress." He chuckled to himself as he heard Miranda laugh again.

"It was actually your daughter's and Rebecca's idea."

"But you had no problem going along with it," he teased back.

Miranda shrugged, "I can't help it, they look so cute together."

Gordo shook his head and letting his arms slide off her, he sat down next to her, "You're hopeless you know that?" He snickered when Miranda glared at him. "Just promise me, you'll just nudge them. The last thing they need is everyone getting involved and making them feel like they're being forced."

Miranda looked at him seriously for a moment and then nodded. "Its just so frustrating watching them."

Grinning, "Its not so easy on the other side either." Miranda grinned back before leaning across to kiss him.

On the other side of the room, Jason and Amanda were trying to talk but both were so nervous, that it was barely anything other than some mundane comments.

_"Why can't I just tell her, I like her. I mean how hard is it to say, I like you as more than just a friend,"_ Jason thought to himself as he half listened to what Amanda was saying. _"She's absolutely gorgeous. Besides the fantastic body, she's funny, smart, she's perfect. So why can't I just say it."_

"My parents are having some people come over tonight, mostly family. I was wondering if you wanted to come, we could hang out or something. My sister is bad enough by herself but with her friends, its crazy," Jason said, trying desperately not to jumble or stumble over his words.

Amanda smiled. "Sure. Sounds like fun."

_"Tell him! Tell him you think he is the great guy and you're crazy about him. That you wanna grab him, run your hands through his hair while you kiss him." _Amanda took a deep breath as she tried to stop herself from getting frustrated. _"Why does the guy have to make the first move? All I gotta do is just say I like you and I want to be your girlfriend. How hard is that?"_

The attempt at conversation grinded to halt as they both got lost in their own thoughts, berating themselves for being cowards and not telling the other how they felt.


	12. Not Just A Bang, But Also A Splash

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 12 - Not Just A Bang, But Also A Splash

As Jason's family was milling around inside the house and Maria and her friends were upstairs, Jason and Amanda were sitting outside on the back patio. Neither was really sure what to say and so they had fallen into another awkward silence.

Jason leaned back in his chair and starred out at the darkened backyard. Next to him, Amanda, while deep in thought, looked at Jason. _"We've been able to talk about anything, even...uncomfortable stuff...but this...this is a whole new territory. He's my best friend, closer to me than anyone but yet...I can't help but think I'm in love with him. I just wish I knew it was the right thing to do."_

Meanwhile, as Jason stared out at nothing, he somehow hoped the darkness would give him some answers. _"What do I do? Was Dad right? Am I scared of taking that next step? Amanda has been my best friend for life. She's funny, talented, smart...incredibly hot...But it means risking everything. What if it doesn't workout, I could lose my best friend. She means so much to me, I don't know if I want to risk it."_

Sighing softly, Amanda was getting frustrated and tired. "Jase," she said softly and waited for him to look at her before continuing. "I think I'm gonna go home."

"Oh," was all Jason said at first. "Umm, walk you home?"

Amanda smirked at him; going home only meant walking through his backyard to the gate in the middle of the back fence and through her own yard. "Sure."

Getting up, they slowly walked across the Gordon's backyard in silence. Both pretty much having given up on making any progress on their relationship tonight.

As Jason opened the gate that linked the two yards, he glanced at her and noticed her preoccupied look. He could always tell when something was bothering her. "What's up?"

"Uh?" Amanda asked, caught completely off guard. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know... You just seem to be preoccupied with something. I was just curious, maybe I could help."

_"Maybe you could help? Help with what? You're the freakin cause."_ Amanda looked away for a moment. "Its nothing important."

Jason titled his head slightly. "Can I ask you somethin?"

"Always."

"Do you think there's something changing between us?" Jason asked softly.

Amanda was stunned for a moment, caught off guard by his question. "N...Nah...Nothing's changed," she stuttered as she tried to answer.

Jason just looked at her for a moment and Amanda shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. "I guess you're right," he said softly, almost dejectedly.

His tone wasn't lost on Amanda, "Do...Do you want it to change?"

Looking at each other for a moment, Jason took a deep breath and tried to ignore how his stomach was tightening. "Maybe." As Amanda stared at him, Jason tried hard to fight the urge to clam up and the heavily feeling his chest was getting. "I've been wanting to tell you something for awhile," he paused as he took another deep breath. "I like you. I mean not just as a best friend but as a...uh...a girlfriend."

When Amanda made a squealing noise, Jason misinterpreted it. "Ok, bad idea. Sorry I brought it up."

"No!" she shouted at him and frantically grabbed his arm as he made a move back towards his house. "I mean, its not a bad idea," she said a little calmer. "I feel the same way, I just couldn't figure out how to tell you." Amanda snickered softly, "That's why the girls convinced me to dress like this. I hate backless heels. Hell, I hate heels in general."

Jason smirked at her, feeling his ego grow. "But you look fantastic in them."

"You think so?" Amanda asked self-consciously.

"Oh yea," he answered, his voice taking on a husky tone that surprised both of them. Jason was embarrassed and Amanda was flattered, his opinion was the one she held over everyone else's.

"Jase. Can I...I mean can we...Geez, you think this would be easy."

"What?"

"Oh hell," she muttered before leaning in and kissing him with years of pent up feelings. _"Damn this is good,"_ was the last coherent thought she could muster as she felt Jason kissing her back.

A little bit later, Jason and Amanda were sitting closely, facing each other, on the Craft's patio chairs. Amanda grinned at him, "So what now?" Jason grinned back and quickly leaned in, closing the remaining space between them, and kissed her. Amanda kissed him back and then when he pulled back, she snickered softly, "Is that all we're gonna do? Kiss?"

"Works for me," he said sarcastically and chuckled when Amanda, mockingly, glared at him. "Ok," he said with teasing grin, "What do you wanna do?"

"A real date," Amanda, told him. "The two of us could go...miniature golfing."

Jason smirked at her, "You wanna go miniature golfing?" he teased and Amanda nodded. "Ok, fine. But right now, what do you wanna do?"

Amanda looked at him and then at the in-ground pool a few feet away. Looking back at him, she gave him a smirk. "Wanna go swimming?"

"Swimming?" Jason asked dumbfounded. "How? We don't have our suits."

"So?" she said with a shrug. "Who needs a bathing suit."

Jason swallowed hard and had to remind himself to breath. "You...You wanna go...skinny-dipping?" he stuttered as he tried to ignore the picture in his head.

Amanda snickered, "Not exactly. But you'd love that wouldn't you?" She laughed softly and reached out to hold his hand as Jason's face went bright red. "Come on," she said, pulling him up out of the chair and towards the pool.

"Amanda?"

"Strip to your boxers," Amanda ordered him.

"What?" Jason shouted in surprise, then something occurred to him, "Wait a minute, how did you know I wear...," Jason trailed off as Amanda smiled guilty at him and he snickered and shook his head. Turning his back to her, he untucked his dress shirt and started unbuttoning it. _"What the hell is happening?"_

After tossing his clothes onto the patio chair, he turned around and stood self-consciously by the edge of the pool, looking down at the water.

"Jase," Amanda called softly and when Jason looked up, all thought left him. She was standing there in her own underwear and watching him with a smirk. Jason's jaw dropped like a rock and as he tried to pull himself together, he slipped and fell backwards into the pool with a large splash.

Waiting for him to surface, to make sure he was alright, Amanda started laughing and shaking her head. Jason surfaced and after coughing, looked up at her and watched in awe as she gracefully dove into the water and swam a little ways away. _"Damn."_

After swimming around and splashing each other for a while, they sat on the diving board, facing each other. Both were soaked but neither really cared.

With a smile, Amanda reached out and pushed some of Jason's hair off his forehead. Leaning in, she gently brushed her lips against his.

"Well, I guess that answers my question," Jason said suddenly.

"What question?"

"If you're my girlfriend."

Amanda smirked at him, "I don't think so. I'm just gonna use your body until I can seduce someone else. But that maybe too much of a hassle, I mean it took seventeen years to get you under my power. I don't think I have the patience to do it again."

Jason glared at her, pretending to be hurt, "You done?"

"I think so." Than Amanda's smirk widened, "But this also answers one of my questions too."

"What?" Jason asked cluelessly.

"Just how big you are?" she said with a small giggle and an evil smile. "I mean for girls, its kinda obvious." Amanda said motioning towards her chest, "But with boys, unless they wear something tight," wiggling her eyebrows comically, "or wet, you never know."

Still not getting it, "What are you talking about?"

Amanda loved this naive side of him; just smiling at him, she pointed down with her finger. Slowly lowering his eyes, he looked downwards. "Holy..." he said as his eyes went wide, finally realizing what she was talking about. Just as he started to shift, to try to hide it, Amanda stopped him.

"Oh no you don't," Amanda told him with a smile. "If I have to show my stuff, so do you," she told him with a smile. _"He's getting embarrassed,"_ she thought as she watched his ears starting to turn red. "You're cute when your ears turn red like that," she teased with a small giggle as she reached out and gently played with one of his ear lobes.

Leaning in, Amanda started to kiss him again but this time, instead of being a small kiss, it was a deep, passionate kiss. Resting one hand on his shoulder, she threaded her other hand into his hair. Jason gently held her hips, bringing her closer to him.

As they were in mid-kiss, the backlight suddenly came on, flooding the backyard in light. Startling the couple, Amanda jerked back and lost her balance. Since she was entangled with Jason, as she slipped off the diving board to the side, she took him with her and both fell into the water with a large splash.

Both immediately came to the surface, coughing and out of sorts. Quickly making their way to the edge of the pool, they both looked around trying to figure out what happened.

"Oh shit," Amanda muttered as she saw who had turned the lights on.

Ethan and Kate glared back at the couple, neither looked thrilled. But while Ethan looked irritated, Kate looked like there should be steam pouring out of her ears.

Kate walked into the house through the backdoor, practically ripping the backdoor off its hinges, leaving Ethan to handle things outside. "Out of the pool."

After the two climbed out and faced Ethan, Ethan first looked at his daughter and then at Jason. "I think you two should call it night." As they went to gather their clothes, Ethan waited for Amanda by the back door.

"I guess I'll see you in class Monday," Amanda said softly.

"Now Amanda," Ethan grumbled.

Jason grinned sheepishly at her, "Yea." Jason would've kissed her but didn't think it was the right time. "Night Mandy," he whispered to her.

"Night Jase," she whispered back before drudging towards her father and the back door.

After watching Ethan usher Amanda inside, Jason quickly pulled his pants on and put his dress shirt on, unbuttoned, along with his shoes and carried the rest of his clothes towards his house. It bugged him that he couldn't protect or even help Amanda when she faced her parents. What made matter worse, was that he knew they'd call his parents. While he was unsure of his Dad's reaction, he knew his mother's would be intense. _"She'll prolly hit the roof."_

Sighing, _"Time to face the music,"_ he thought as he drudge towards his house.


	13. Consequences

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 13 - Consequences

Once inside, Ethan had told Amanda to go upstairs and dry off while they, Kate and Ethan, talk. For a moment, Ethan watched Kate furiously pacing around the kitchen.

Suddenly, Kate's head whipped up and she looked at Ethan. "What the hell is she thinking?" Than slamming her palms onto the counter top, not waiting for an answer, "She isn't thinking, that's the problem!" she snapped.

"Kate," he said softly, trying to get her to calm down. He was upset with his daughter but felt Kate was taking it a little to the extreme.

"Who knows what the hell could've happened if we hadn't interrupted them," she snarled as she glared daggers at him. "Has the girl learned nothing from my mistakes!"

Ethan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Kate, you know Amanda isn't that," but he was cut off by another tirade.

"How the hell can you be so calm about this?" Kate yelled at him, her arms flailing widly, "She's throwing her future away for some boy!"

Ethan was about to try and calm her down again, but was interrupted.

"Jason is not just some boy!" Amanda roared as she stormed into the kitchen, clad in an old t-shirt, shorts, and a robe. "Unlike you, I don't date every loser I met," she snapped at her mother.

"Amanda!" Ethan yelled, knowing where this was heading and trying to cut if off before it started.

"I will not," Kate started to say but again was interrupted by Amanda.

"Jason is the sweetest, most caring guy I have ever met. He'd never intentionally hurt me and even if he did, he'd never run away like a coward. I will not let anyone bash him, not even you," Amanda snarled and with her last sentence, pointed at her mother. "I don't give a damn if you, Dad, or anyone else has a problem with this. Nothing you do, will ever keep me away from Jason. He's my best friend. He makes me feel special, special like no one else can. We may look alike but we are nothing alike. You love your looks but I hate them. I hate every guy gawking at me like a piece of meat. But Jason treats me like a princess; he respects me! Not just cause of my looks but cause of what I am inside."

She then started to address both of them again. "You may be able to keep us apart for the next year but after we graduate, you've got no control, and if there is one thing I've learned from you Mom, is that to be patient and let a plan fold out. We will be together and there is NOTHING, anyone can do to stop us."

With that, she stormed back out of the room. Ethan sighed as he looked at Kate. _"She looks like she's gonna go off but at the same time, like she's been kicked in the stomach."_

"Kate," Ethan said softly.

Kate sniffled and looked up at Ethan for a moment. "Will you call Mir," she said softly, "I...I need to talk to Amanda."

Ethan watched as Kate slowly walked out of the kitchen, her shoulders slumped over and head hanging a little. Ethan felt for his wife; he knew how much her relationship with her daughters meant to her and that was why she reacted so strongly to what happened. _"I hope for those two, they sort things out."_

Rachel tentatively knocked on Amanda's bedroom door. She had heard the yelling and then Amanda running up the stairs and slamming her door shut as she barraged into her bedroom.

"Go away!"

Rachel frowned as she heard Amanda's raspy voice and could tell she was crying. Slowly opening the door, "Its me," she said walking into the room.

"I'm not in the mood for your crap," Amanda grumbled.

Ignoring her, Amanda walked into the room, "I like Jason. He's a cool guy and you're crazy about each other," she told her big sister as she sat down next to where she was sprawled out on the bed. "Just remember me when you two elope next year."

Amanda couldn't help but snicker and grin a little, even with the tears still falling. "You're a pain in the ass, you know that?"

Rachel just grinned and nodded. As Amanda slowly sat up, Rachel hugged her. "If you need help sneaking out, just ask," Rachel told her half joking, half not.

A cough from the doorway interrupted their sister-to-sister moment. Kate looked at them for a moment, "Rach, will you give me a moment with Amanda."

"Sure," Rachel said getting up and walking out.

Kate spoke first, "Honey, before you say anything," she than paused for a moment and took a deep breath. When it looked like Amanda was about to yell at her again, Kate held her hands up in a defensive gesture, "I'm sorry for degrading Jason like that. He is a great kid, a lot like his father. Its just seeing you like that brought back a lot of painful memories, and even with Jason, I don't want you going through what I did. Even with my friends, it was hard and I don't want you to struggle with school and trying to raise a child." Pausing to wipe away a tear and take another deep breath, "But I've got to let you grow up and...let you fall in love. I've seen it coming for years with you two; I guess just seeing it happen and how I saw it, threw me for a loop."

"Mom," Amanda said softly and watched her walk over and sit next to her. "I'm…I'm sorry too. I didn't mean what I said. You're one of the strongest woman I know and I love you so much but Jason is..." she trailed off, not sure how to finish.

Kate smiled at her, "I know honey," she said hugging her daughter tightly. "You're still gonna get it for what you two did but afterwards, I think, if you two want to, you can be together. I won't stop you, at least intentionally."

"Thank you," Amanda whimpered softly as she hugged her back.

Kate nodded slowly, "Sometime next week, I think we should...We're gonna go...to the doctor's office."

"Why?" Amanda asked.

"Well, if there is a rerun of tonight and no one's around," she said as she shifted uncomfortably.

Amanda opened her mouth to ask why again, then it hit. Blushing a little, "Oh."

"Just be careful honey. I know you two have some intense feelings for each other and at your age, it's hard to control them." After Kate gently kissed the side of Amanda's head, she got up. "Now before I lose my dinner," she said sarcastically, trying to make them both comfortable again, "I'm gonna go downstairs and relax."

Pausing at the doorway, she looked back at Amanda, "If...If you have any questions, or just...wanna talk...about anything, I'm here for you. I love you."

Amanda smiled a little at her, "Thanks and I love you too."

The next morning, Kate was the first one up and she was sitting in the kitchen by herself, in deep thought. Amanda paused in the kitchen doorway and watched her mother for a moment. "Mom."

Kate blinked out of her thoughts and looked up. "Yes honey?"

"I was thinking...if I'm not in too much trouble...maybe we could go shopping after school," Amanda said slowly as she wringed her hands together.

"Are you serious?"

Amanda nodded slowly, "Than maybe afterwards, we could get something to eat...and maybe, talk."

Kate smiled, "I'd like that."

"Me too," Amanda fidgeted for a moment, before grabbing an apple off the table, "I gotta get going, Jason is gonna drive me to school. If that's alright?"

Kate snickered softly, "Its alright. Just come straight home."

Hearing the front door open and shut, Kate let out a deep breath, _"Amanda is a great girl and she is right, Jason would never hurt her, intentionally. I'm just worried about unintentionally. I gotta let her fly and learn from her own mistakes. I just hope I'm doing the right thing."_

At school, Amanda was standing at her locker, changing books when she heard laughter behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Maria and Rebecca looking back at them with wide smiles.

"So, I hear you went for a late night swim," Rebecca said as her smile widened.

As Amanda frowned at them, "I think they did more than just swim. From the yelling my mom was doing last night, Jase got into some deep shit. You never want to hear my mom start yelling in Spanish," Maria said as she tried to fight back the laughter.

"I just can't believe you of all people went skinny dipping," Rebecca said sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes, "We didn't go skinny dipping." Realizing she had just backed herself into a corner, she groaned. "We stripped to our underwear and went swimming."

Both girls started giggling. "Is that all?" Rebecca prodded.

"Well, we...uhh," Amanda stumbled over her words which cause the other two to laugh even harder. "We kinda made out."

"Kinda?" Rebecca asked as Maria pretended to hurl.

"Okay, okay. We were making out on the diving board, things were going fast and that's when my parents found us."

"Oww," Rebecca said as both girls winced.

"So I'm grounded for two weeks. But at least me and my mom had some kind of weird breakthrough."

"Man," Maria said, "I knew when you two got together there'd be fireworks but nothin like this," she teased.

"Don't you two having something better to do than torture her?"

Instantly recognizing the voice, Maria was the first to answer. "Not really. Besides I torture you every day, I need a change of pace," she joked with a sarcastic grin.

Jason walked up next to Amanda. "Beat it skunk head or I tell Dad about last weekend."

"For now," Maria said as she made a tactical retreat, "This isn't over," she told her brother and walked off to class.

"And you?" Jason asked to Rebecca.

Rebecca just grinned at him for a second and then looked at Amanda before leaving. "Call me, I want details."

"Thanks."

"No prob," Jason told her with an uneasy smile. "Can I ask you something? Do you umm regret last night?"

"Do you?" she asked, suddenly very self conscious and nervous.

Jason reached out and gently played with a stray strand of her hair. "No way." Jason couldn't help but smile as a huge smile lit up Amanda's face. "So I was thinking that after we get off grounding we could go miniature golfing." He said the last part with a sarcastic tinge to it and laughed when Amanda glared and swatted him.

"I'd like that," she said seriously.

"So," Jason said a little nervously, "can I, umm, walk my girlfriend to class?"

_"Girlfriend, I really like the sound of that."_ Smirking at him, Amanda brushed her hair over her shoulder and linked her arm with his. "Why not," she said sarcastically and the two walked down the hall laughing.


	14. Happens So Suddenly

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 14 - Happens So Suddenly

After a week of being grounded for the poolside activities, Amanda and Jason finally got their chance at a first date. That was a little over a month ago. But with most good things, real life has an annoying habit of interfering.

It was a little after four o'clock, early Saturday morning, and Jason was sound asleep when he felt himself being shaken. Groaning softly, he tried to turn away from whatever was shaking him. Than he heard his mom's voice, "Jason. Come on honey, wake up."

Rolling on his back, he cracked his eyes open a little. "What?" he mumbled as he tried to keep himself from drifting back to sleep. He was tired and a little annoyed his mother was waking him up.

"There's been an accident."

Jason immediately woke up; bolting up right, he tried to ignore the pounding in his head as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Dad?" he asked as he tried to get his body to wake up.

"No," Miranda told him as she stepped back to let Jason get out of the bed. "Mr. Braden."

_"Bec,"_ his best friend was the first thing to enter his mind. "What happened?"

"He'd been working some long hours and was going in early this morning when he fell asleep at the wheel. He hit the guardrail and flipped the car." Miranda paused as she tried to keep her composure. "He died instantly."

Jason's head snapped up and he looked at his mother, _"Died?"_

"I need you to stay here with the girls. Your father and I are going,"

"No," he snapped at her. "I'm going too."

Miranda looked at him for a moment, than reluctantly nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry." Just like she wanted to be there for her friend, she knew Jason would want to, at the very least, check on Rebecca. "We're leaving in five minutes."

As Miranda left to tell Maria that she was watching Natalie, Jason quickly changed out of the tank top and shorts he wore to bed and quickly threw on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. With a thousand thoughts rushing through him, came a thousand different emotions. The biggest thing was, he was scared of what he was actually going to say to her. _"What do you say to someone who just lost their Dad?"_

Five minutes later, as Jason was completely lost in thought and staring out the back window, Gordo pulled the car into Braden's driveway. Meeting them in the doorway, Lizzie practically collapsed, sobbing, into Gordo's arms. As he hugged her tightly, Miranda gently stroked her back and tried to not start crying too.

Jason quietly and quickly made his way past them and upstairs to Rebecca's room. Pausing in front of the half open door, he tried to ignore the queasy feeling in his stomach. Gently pushing the door fully open, he walked into the dark room. He found Rebecca just lying on her side, facing away from the door.

"He…Hey," Jason stuttered as he walked in a few steps. _"Smooth Gordon. Real smooth."_ Running a hand through his hair, "How are you?" Jason groaned softly to himself as soon as the question left his lips, _"This is going great,"_ he said to himself sarcastically. Jason sighed as he struggled to find what to say and not come off as an idiot.

Meanwhile, Rebecca continued to lay on her bed, dead to the world and not even acknowledging Jason's presence. When her mom had woken her and told her what happened, through her tears, it was like Rebecca had just shut down inside. When her mom left, to call Miranda, she laid back down on her bed and just stared at the wall. She felt numb inside and wasn't sure what to do.

Jason scratched the back of his head as he helplessly looked at her. He was getting nowhere and was starting to feel like an idiot. He felt like he kept saying the wrong thing, which was why Rebecca was continuing to ignore him. Walking over to her, he gently put his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed, "When you're ready, I'll be here," he told her softly.

Just as he released his grip, Rebecca's hand shot up and grabbed his wrist. Jason barely kept himself from jumping four feet in the air. "Bec?" he asked as he froze in place. He watched as Rebecca slowly started to come back to life; hearing her whimper, he felt his heart crack.

Jason opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He watched helplessly as what started as a few tears, quickly turned into racking sobs.

Sitting down on the bed, he didn't know what to do and to say he scared out of his mind, was putting it mildly. As Rebecca tighten her vice grip on his wrist, he knew he wasn't going anywhere. Sitting there, he begged whatever power to be, for him to find a way to make her stop crying.

Surprising and scarring the hell out of him, Rebecca rolled over and curled up against Jason's chest. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her and just held her; he didn't know what else to do. Leaning back against the wall, he wondered, _"What the hell do I do now?"_

Meanwhile downstairs, Miranda sat on the couch and watched Lizzie practically buzzing around the room, organizing and cleaning up. Since they arrived, Lizzie hadn't stopped moving, which didn't surprise Miranda. _"Surprised she isn't in the kitchen baking."_

Miranda elbowed Gordo in the ribs and when he looked at her annoyed, "Say something?" she hissed at him.

"Like what?" he snapped back.

Sighing and rolling her eyes, Miranda got up and followed her into the kitchen. "You know no one really cares if the house is spotless."

"I do," Lizzie said as she started putting away dishes. As one slipped out of Lizzie's hand, like in slow motion, the two women watched it fall and crash. As Lizzie bent down to pick up the pieces, she started hyperventilating. "Damn it. These were wedding gifts from Todd's mom," Lizzie whined softly, fighting back the tears.

Miranda looked down at her sadly as she watched Lizzie hanging on by a thread. Watching Lizzie carelessly grab a piece and nick her hand, she bent down and gently touch Lizzie's shoulder, stopping her, and picked up the pieces herself and threw them out in a nearby garbage can.

"Liz," Miranda said softly and as they slowly stood up, it was like the dam walls busted and Lizzie just started crying again. Miranda wrapped her in a tight hug as Lizzie continued crying into her shoulder. As Miranda felt tears start to well up in her eyes, she looked up and saw Gordo standing in the kitchen doorway. Locking eyes, Miranda shuddered at the thought of loosing Gordo and held Lizzie tighter and gently rubbed her back while never moving her eyes from Gordo's.

Early the next morning, as soon as she had found out, Amanda immediately headed over to the Braden's. Walking upstairs, she tried to steel herself for what to expect. But nothing could prepare her for what she found as she stood in Rebecca's doorway.

She found her best friend sound asleep and curled up with her boyfriend. Trying to suppress any jealous feelings, Amanda walked into the room. _"They're just friends. He was prolly just comforting her. Don't jump to any conclusions. You know Jase would never hurt you, especially like this,"_ the rational side of her brain tried to reason with her.

Reaching the bedside, she reached out and gently stroked Jason curly hair. With a painful groan, Jason lifted his head up and felt his neck crack. Slowly opening his eyes and blinking a few times, he looked up at Amanda and smiled. "Hey," he said softly. Gently moving Rebecca off him and laying her down on the bed, he stood up and felt his stiff body protest him standing up.

"Stay with her, I'll be right back," Jason said to her.

Amanda arched her eyebrows at him. "Where are you going?"

Grinning sheepishly at her, "Bathroom," he said as he walked out of the room.

Rolling her eyes, Amanda sat down on the bed and looked down at the sleeping Amanda. _"Told you there was nothing to worry about. You saw his parents downstairs, he naturally came with them to be there for Bec."_ Suddenly, a screaming and panicking Rebecca interrupted her thoughts.

Rebecca's eyes flew open, "Jason?" she called out. When she got no answer, she bolted up right, "Jason?" she screamed frantically.

Amanda quickly gabbed a flailing Rebecca and shook her a little, "Rebecca!"

"Amanda?" she mumbled and then grabbing her head, she tried to make sense of everything. Nothing made sense at the moment, she felt disoriented even in her own room.

As she did, Jason came crashing into the room, running at full speed. "What happened?" he asked out of breath.

"I think she had a nightmare," Amanda said as she hugged and tried to calm Rebecca.

Jason quickly made his way to the other side of the bed, "Bec." he said softly. Rebecca's head snapped up and she looked over at him. Kind of falling off the bed, she landed on one knee and wrapped her arms around Jason, hugging him.

_"What the hell?"_ Amanda tried to keep her mouth shut. _"Stop being so possessive. Rebecca's scared, she just lost her father. Jason is her best friend. I guess its only natural she'd turn to him."_ As she watched Jason hugging her and trying to comfort him, Amanda still couldn't help but feel a little jealous, _"Doesn't mean I have to like it."_

After Gordo had driven Amanda and Jason back home, Miranda was going to stay with Lizzie and Rebecca for a little while, Amanda was walking down the driveway when Jason stopped her.

"Mandy?" Jason called and Amanda turned to face him. Walking to her, "Are you alright?" he said as he loosely wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I guess," she answered, "considering my best friend just lost her father."

"That it?"

"Yea Jase, I'm fine. Really," Amanda forced a small grin on her face. "I'm gonna go home and relax for awhile. I'll call you later," she said as she untangled herself from his arms.

"Are you sure?" he asked cautiously, getting a weird vibe that something was wrong. When Amanda nodded yes, Jason sighed and knew not to push just how fine she was. Leaning in and kissing her goodbye, he could kind of sense that Amanda was holding back something. As he watched her walk away down the street, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stick up.

_"If everything is alright, than why do I feel like I just walked into a mine field?"_


	15. Dealing With Loss

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 15 - Dealing With Loss

As Kate was walking out of an antique shop downtown, she happened to look across the street and saw Amy Tudgeman walking down the sidewalk. Quickly dodging traffic, she made her way across the street. "Amy!"

At hearing her name, the smaller woman glanced over her shoulder. Seeing the source, she smiled, stopped, and turned around. "Hi Kate," she said, "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to find an old Elizabethan clock for a client," Kate told her. "Have you talked to Liz lately?"

A small frown appeared on Amy's face, as she shook her head no. "Not really. She's been keeping a low profile since the accident."

A similar sad look appeared on Kate's face as she nodded in agreement, "Miranda says even though she's trying to keep on a brave front, she's a mess." Sighing softly, "I don't know what I do if something like that happened to Ethan. Miranda and Gordo have been trying their best to help her but there's only so much friends can do, even close friends like them."

"How's Rebecca?" Amy watched Kate look away for a moment and heard a soft sigh escape her lips.

Looking back, "As well as can be expected I guess," Kate answered. "She's obviously devastated. I think it'll take some time before their both feeling back to their old selves." Kate looked away again and stared off into space.

Amy knew there's was something else to the story. "Kate, what is it?"

"Its nothing," Kate mumbled at first, "Its just...I'm a little worried," she said as she slowly looked back at Amy.

"Worried?" Amy asked curiously. "About what?"

Taking a deep breath, "With how Rebecca is dealing with everything," Kate paused, briefly debating whether to continue, "I've just noticed Rebecca, lately, seems to be clinging to Jason and I'm worried about what it's doing to not just her but also to Amanda and Jason's relationship."

Cocking her head to one side, Amy wasn't sure what to answer at first. "You think Rebecca is trying to get in between them?" she asked in almost unbelievable tone.

Kate immediately shook her head, "No." But also sighed softly, "At least not intentionally. But with everything that's happened, I'm just worried that Rebecca and Jason are gonna do...something and Amanda is gonna end up getting hurt. Every time I've tried to talk to her about it, Amanda just keeps shutting me out and it makes me worry even that much more."

"Something like what Kate? Have you seen anything that'd make you think this?" Amy asked her. "I just can't see Jason hurting her, he's crazy about Amanda."

Rolling her eyes, "I know, I know. I'm prolly over exaggerating but its just this gut feeling, call it a motherly instinct, it tells me I'm right," Kate said softly as she ran a hand through her hair.

"I'm not saying you're wrong but she did just lose her father," Amy said trying to come up with a rational reason for Kate's feelings, "Anyone would be lost after that. Jason is almost just as close to Bec as he is to Amanda. It'd only be natural for her to turn to him and him to be there for her to try and comfort her. I think you're just reading too much into it," she said as she gently laid a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I bet in a little while, things will slowly return to normal and Jason and Amanda will be back to their late night activities." she laughed as Kate glared at her.

Kate grinned at her sarcastically. Shaking her head softly, "Your prolly right...I'm prolly just over-exaggerating things." As the conversation shifted to lighter subjects, Kate still couldn't shake the feeling that she was on to something. But she really hoped, that she was wrong.

The day of the funeral seemed to go by in a blur for Lizzie. Luckily her mother had been there, helping her every step of the way and was now downstairs, taking care of everything, letting her be able to grieve a little in private. She couldn't take much more of the prying questions and everyone else's pity. The final straw had been when someone asked her about what she was going to do about Todd's car. If it hadn't been for Gordo ushering her upstairs, she'd would've slugged the woman.

She knew that someday, she would probably be in this position; she just never thought it'd be now but years from now. She was in her mid-forties and had a teenage daughter, that she now had to raise by herself. "_What am I going to do?"_

Grabbing a pillow off the bed, she chucked it at the wall, "Bastard!" she swore loudly as she glared at Todd in a family picture that hung on the wall.

Lizzie heard a soft knock on her bedroom door. Letting out an annoyed sigh, she quickly started wiping her eyes and sat up on the bed, "Yes?" she called, trying hard to make her voice sound as normal as possible.

Lizzie watched the door slowly open and Miranda walk into the room, shutting the door behind her. "What's up?" Lizzie asked, thinking Miranda came up to tell her something.

Miranda looked over at the pillow and than at Liz for a moment with a smirk. Glancing at the pillow again, "Bad pillow," she said sarcastically and walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down in a nearby chair, "You should see the spread down there." Miranda joked, "I think Gordo and Jason are drooling over themselves with all that food."

Looking at her like she was nuts, "Miranda?" Lizzie asked softly.

Miranda looked over at her, "Come on Liz, I'm sure you're prolly sick and tired of answering questions. Besides, we've been best friends since we were little, do I even really need to ask you?" she asked her rhetorically. "Wanna go for a scream? Gordo said we could take his Mustang for a little while."

Lizzie took a deep breath and let it out softly, "Maybe later." Lizzie snarled softly as she sat down on the bed and looked over at Miranda, "Is it just me or do people really ask some stupid questions that are none of their fucking business."

Miranda just shrugged, "Some people just don't know what to say."

After a few moments of silence, "Do you think it'll get better?" Lizzie asked softly.

Getting out of the chair and sitting next to her on the bed, Miranda pulled her into a hug, "It'll get better, I promise."

Lizzie sighed and rested her head on Miranda's shoulder for a moment. "How's Becky?"

"She's alright," Miranda answered, "Crying a little, but Jase is with her."

"I hope I can take care of her alone?" Lizzie asked with an almost scared tone.

Miranda pulled back and looked at her, "Alone?" she asked. "Your not alone. No matter what happens, me and Gordo always, and I mean always, have your back. You also have yours and Todd's families. Liz, never believe you're alone in this."

Lizzie looked over at her and smiled softly and a little sadly. "Thanks Mir. It means a lot."

"No prob," she answered, "You're my sis, and we take care of each other," Miranda told her as she hugged her tightly again.

Downstairs, Amanda stood out on the back porch, staring back into the house. She watched Jason sitting on a couch in the living room with his arm around Rebecca. It was an innocent act, Rebecca had been crying and Jason had wrapped an arm around her, hugging her, trying to comfort her. She knew she was being stupid, silly, and a little possessive and that she should have nothing to worry about, but she couldn't help how she felt.

Rebecca was spending more and more time with Jason and it was coming at the expense of her time alone with him.

As she watched Jason hug her a little closely, Amanda felt another wave of jealousy. When she felt it, she snapped at herself, _"My best friend lost her father and I'm getting jealous over Jason comforting her."_ Amanda sighed and scratched her head, _"I'm a great friend,"_ she thought sarcastically.

_"I'm just a little cranky cause I haven't been able to spend anytime with Jase. They're just friends, best friends. She needs a shoulder to cry on right now. Jason is like a brother to her,"_ she rationalized to herself. _"Once things get back to normal, or as close as their gonna get, whatever this is, will go away."_

It sounded right in her head, but as she continued to watch the two of them on the couch, Amanda had trouble truly believing her own words.


	16. One Move Can Change Everything

A/N - "Thoughts"

Chapter 16 - One Move Can Change Everything

From a short distance away, Jason watched Rebecca sitting on the couch and staring off into space. She was barely acknowledging anyone and only answer in one-word answers. After what seemed like the millionth person offered her their condolences, she stood up and walked into the backyard.

After a moment, Jason followed her outside. Walking out onto the back porch, Jason saw Rebecca standing in the middle of the backyard. Cautiously, he walked up to her. Having no real idea what to say or do, he just stood next to her; alternating between looking at her and around the yard.

Looking up at the dusk sky, he noticed the clouds starting to roll in. "I think its gonna rain," Jason said aloud.

Rebecca looked up at him, in a mix of surprise and confusion. "What?" Jason just shrugged and Rebecca rolled her eyes at him. "I am so sick of everyone asking me how I am," Rebecca said, her voice getting louder. "How the fuck do you think I feel, you morons," she yelled, looking back at the house behind them.

"Becky," Jason said softly, turning so he was facing her.

"What?" she snapped at him. "Its not like they actually care. They're here paying lip service," she snarled at him. "Face it, my dad was jackass, who only cared about himself."

"Come on Bec. Your father wasn't a jackass."

Rebecca stepped towards him, "Bullshit. The only thing he cared about was that damn job! Remember last year, I went to the Cheerleading State Championships. Everyone was there, except him. Where was he? At his office; he couldn't take a Saturday off to see his own daughter compete. A Saturday! What the hell?" As Rebecca ranted, tears were starting to fall down her checks. "What about my birthday. He went on some stupid business trip." She then let out a hoarse, sarcastic laugh, "Even better, remember when I broke my arm. He wouldn't leave work to take me to the hospital. Gordo, your dad, not only took me to the hospital but also stayed with Mom and me when they put a cast on it and then brought us lunch. Why can't Gordo be my dad, he's a great father," Rebecca stopped cause she started sobbing and couldn't put together a coherent word.

Jason sighed softly and wrapping her arms around her, hugged her. "Shh," he said softly, trying to calm her down. "My dad isn't that perfect either. He's can be obsessive about stupid stuff, stubborn, a perfectionist. They all have faults."

"But at least he gives a damn about you. All I wanted was some of his attention. Is that too much to ask for?" Rebecca grabbed his shirt as she buried her face into his chest, "All I wanted was my daddy back and now, I'll never have him back," she mumbled against his chest.

Holding her tighter, he gently rubbed her back. _"What the hell do I say to her now?"_

Rebecca interrupted his thoughts as she slowly picked her head up and looked at him, "Jase." Looking back at her, he let go with one arm and gently wiped the tear tracks on her cheeks. Shivering a little under his touch, she stared into his eyes. "You're not going anywhere, right?"

"Of course not."

"Good," she answered softly. Losing herself in the moment and already being emotionally fried, she did something incredibly stupid. She kissed him; but it wasn't just kissing her best friend but also kissing her other best friend's boyfriend. At that particular moment, she didn't think of that. All she knew was the Jason made the pain go away, if only temporary.

At first, Jason was stunned and caught completely off guard and then for a brief moment, he started to kiss her back. Suddenly, an image of Amanda flashed in front of him and Jason jerked his head back. Jason stood there with a dazed expression on his face and Rebecca looked at him confused.

Jason let go of her and opened his mouth to say something when he saw a flash of blonde hair in his peripheral vision. His head snapped to the left and he saw Amanda standing on the back deck, looking like someone had just sucker punched her.

Opening his mouth to say something, Jason's mouth just hung open as he watched Amanda run off. Then he felt Rebecca brush past him, crying, as she ran back into the house.

_"Oh yea, minefield...and I've just stepped on the biggest one...kaboom."_ he thought as he hung his head.

Lizzie and Miranda had just left the bedroom and were about to walk down the stairs when Rebecca came run up them and past them, in tears. Lizzie watched her daughter run down the hall and into her room, slamming the door behind her.

"Mir," Lizzie started to say.

Miranda nodded, "Go," she told her and Lizzie walked towards Rebecca's room.

Gently knocking on the door, Lizzie slowly opened it and walked into the room. She found her sprawled out on her bed, crying into her pillow. "Honey?" Lizzie asked gently as she kneeled next to the bed. Feeling what was left of her heart breaking, she gently reached out and rubbed her daughter's back.

Lizzie heard Rebecca mumble something into her pillow but couldn't make it out, "What baby?"

Picking her head up a little, "I did something very stupid."

"What did you do?"

"I...I...I kissed Jason."

Lizzie looked at her for a moment, letting it sink in. "Oh my." Stroking her hair, "Why?"

"I don't know," she answered, "He was being so sweet and everyone else was just pissing me off. I got swept up in the moment and...and Amanda saw us." Lizzie winced at hearing about Amanda. Rebecca continued, "Mom?"

"Yea."

"Are things ever gonna go back to normal?" Rebecca asked scared and starting to cry again, knowing she screwed up big time.

Lizzie just sighed and moving onto the bed, next to her, hugged her daughter tightly. "Yes. Eventually, things will go back to normal. I promise."

Crying softly against her mother's chest, "What did I do to deserve this?"

Whispering into her daughter's hair as she held her, "Nothing baby, nothing."

Later that night, Jason laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He was completely lost; directionless, no idea what his next step should be. _"I like Amanda. I wanna be with Amanda, not Rebecca."_ Jason thought to himself but that stupid nagging voice in the back of his head kept reminding him, _"Than why did you kiss her back?"_

_"It was only for a second, than I broke the kiss."_

_"But you still kissed her back."_

_"Shut up!"_ he snapped at himself, _"Great, now I'm arguing with the voices in my head. That's a real good sign."_

Hearing his door open, he winced, thinking it was his mother. It wasn't, instead Natalie walked in and climbed up on to the bed and sat on his chest.

Looking down at him curiously, "Why you so sad?"

"I did something stupid."

Titling her head a little, "That why Mommy mad?"

"Prolly."

"What you do?"

Jason sighed, "I just did something that's gonna make a lot of people mad at me, I don't really wanna get into details."

"I still like you," Natalie told him with a smirk eerily similar to their father's.

Jason's lips tugged into a small grin, "Thanks Nat."

A cough from the doorway interrupted them. Both looked over to see their father standing in the doorway. "Nat, you should be in bed asleep," Gordo said.

Natalie climbed down and after she walked out into the hall, Gordo closed the door behind him. Jason watched him walk over to his desk and sit in the chair. Sitting up, Jason asked, "Where's Mom?"

Gordo chuckled sarcastically and rolled his eyes, "Don't worry where your mom is, just be very glad I'm here and not her."

"Oh."

"What happened?"

"I don't know," Jason answered, "One moment, she's bitchin about her dad, than she's practically sobbing, and next thing I know she kissing me." Gordo closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dad," he said softly, "I screwed up big didn't I?"

"Yea, ya screwed up royally but it wasn't all your fault," he told him.

"Do you think we can fix this? I mean the three of us, be friends again," Jason said. "As much as I like Amanda, I don't wanna wreck our friendship over something like this."

"Honestly," Gordo said, "I don't know." Standing up, he gently squeezed Jason's shoulder, "But I know you're not gonna let it go without a fight."

As Gordo left, Jason stood up and walked to his back window, staring out at the house behind them. Resting his forehead against the glass, _"Why the hell did she have to kiss me? Everything was finally falling into place and now chaos. I want Amanda, not Rebecca. It was a stupid mistake."_ He than sighed sadly as he stared at Amanda's bedroom window, _"A stupid mistake that could cost me everything."_


	17. Can It End Like This?

A/N - _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 17 - Can It End Like This?

During his free period, Jason sat at one of the picnic tables in the school's courtyard, staring out into space. It had been almost a week since the incident and neither girl was really talking to him or each other.

Rebecca walked around like in a fog, completely lost, and spent most of her time with her cheerleading friends. Amanda had basically become withdrawn inside herself and the only time she left her room was for school or to use the bathroom. Jason had been spending the time thinking of how to beg Amanda to forgive him and find out what the hell was going through Rebecca's head.

As Jason was lost in thought, someone approached him from behind. "Hey bro," Maria said softly and taking her bookbag off her shoulder, she slid onto the bench on the other side of the table. Jason just grunted a little, barely acknowledging her presence.

"So...You talk to either of em?" she asked hesitantly.

Jason glared at her, "What do you think?" he snarled.

Maria smirked at him, "Want me to smack them around a little?" she asked sarcastically. When Jason snickered very softly, Maria's smirk widened. She hated seeing her brother upset like this, even when it was occasionally her fault. Even though they constantly were bickering or teasing each other, they were still very close. Just as over protective of her as he was, she was the same way about him.

"Do you have any idea what you're gonna do?"

Running a hand through his dark, curly hair, Jason sighed. "Talk to Rebecca and find out what the hell is going on. Than go to Amanda...," he trailed off for a moment as he thought, "beg for her to forgive me."

"So it is Amanda you really want?" Maria asked him, "Not Rebecca."

"Honestly, I don't know. I've never really thought of Rebecca like that to begin with. I like her as a best friend and she's beautiful but I kinda see her like a sister." A small smile slowly tugged at his lips, "With Amanda, there's just this feeling. I like being with her, we just click with each other.

Trying to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach, thinking about her brother's love life, "Are you...uh...you know...in...love with her?" she finally forced herself to say.

"I...I don't know. I've just realized that I liked her like that. I don't even know what love is," he paused for a moment and looked at her, "and I'm not sure, no, I know its something I don't want to talk about with my sister."

Maria let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you," she said sarcastically and they both laughed. Maria smiled sadly, "I think that's the first time I've heard you laugh in almost a week."

"Haven't had much to laugh about."

After the bell rang, Maria stood up and after slipping her bag over her shoulder, took a few steps away from the table before stopping. Turning around, "Hey goofball," she called teasingly. Jason glanced over his shoulder at her. Grinning at him, "You'll figure it out."

"How do you know?"

Maria snickered, "Cause you've always had this annoying habit of always landing on your feet," she teased. Slowly the grin disappeared and she grew serious for a moment, "You three have been best friends for god knows how long, you guys'll find a way to fix this." With that she walked off towards the school.

Gathering his stuff, _"We never had any of this kind of major drama when we were just all friends."_ Walking across the courtyard towards the school door, _"Maybe that's the key. Everything was so much easier when we we're all just friends. Everything's just gone to hell as soon as we started letting romance mix in. I wonder if we just went back to the way things were everything would go back to normal."_

Rubbing his face, _"For the sake of our friendship, I gotta breakup with Amanda and make sure Rebecca knows that nothing can happen between us. We can't let anything destroy our friendship, no matter how much I have to give up. I wrecked this and now I gotta put it back together."_

Amanda stalked out of the school, with a scowl on her face. The shock of everything had slowly worn off and now it was being replaced with anger, betrayal, and frustration. Everything was chaotic now. She knew Rebecca was lost and if she detached herself from the situation, she knew that her kissing another girl's boyfriend, that she was reeling and spinning out of control. But that was the problem, her best friend had kissed her boyfriend and that's where the betrayal fit in.

She didn't know what to do. Should she talk to her best friend and find out what she was thinking? Or just smack her around for messing with her boyfriend?

Than there was Jason; She was furious with him cause she saw him kiss her back, if just for a moment. _"There've gotta be feelings there or why would he kiss her back?"_

Sighing softly, she adjusted the strap of her bag, as she walked, "I don't know what to do_ Rebecca's my best friend, she just lost her father, she's not exactly thinking clearly. But she still kissed my boyfriend,"_ she thought to herself and then snarled to herself, _"And that dofus kissed her back. Why did he kiss her back?"_

Rounding a corner, she came face to face with the last person she wanted to see at the moment. Both girls came to a dead stop a few yards away from each other and just stared at each other as neither was really sure what to say or do in those tense filled moments.

Finally Amanda broke the silence and asked the one question she really wanted to know, "Why?"

"Why what?"

Sighing and trying very hard to not let her temper flare, "Why did you stab me in the back?"

Rebecca frowned, "You know not everything is about you."

"Me?" Amanda snarled back, "If either of us has to be the center of attention, its you, and you know it."

"Bullshit."

"You could've gotten any guy you wanted," as they shot back and forth, their voices gradually got louder and they moved closer to each other, "why did you have to go after Jason?"

"Oh get over yourself," Rebecca shot back, "You could've done the same and Jason isn't just yours, he is my best friend too. Why the hell can't I have him? Where is it written that you end up with him?"

"You, better than anyone, knows how I feel about Jason."

"And that means no one else can have feelings for him either! The reason Jason has never been with anyone is cause every time someone shows an interest and gets close, you throw a tantrum and get all possessive," she snarled loudly. "If Jason is the love of your life how come it took like seventeen years for you to do something about it!"

"Why you little skank!" she said stepping toe to toe with Rebecca.

Rebecca shoved her a little "Bring it on bitch." Both girls brought their arms back like they were going to hit each other but were suddenly pulled apart and held a little over arms length away from each other.

"Whoa!" Jason said as he quickly stepped between them and pushed them apart. _"Gotta end this now."_ Struggling against them as he tried to keep them separated, "We're not gonna solve anything with you two trying to crack each other's heads open."

"Stay out of this Jase," Amanda snapped, trying to push Jason's hand off her waist. "This is between me and the whore."

"Let's go little princess," Rebecca snapped back as she tried to do the same.

"Enough!" Jason yelled at them. "We're not gonna save our friendship with you two snipping at each other."

"Apparently there's nothing to save," Amanda said, "Or better yet, maybe there was nothing to save in the first place. How can I be best friends with a backstabbing, boyfriend stealer? Uh?"

"Amanda," Jason started to say but was interrupted.

"You know what," Rebecca interrupted, "For once, you're right! Why try and save something that was a joke to begin with."

"Fine!" Amanda shouted and spun around, and started to walk away.

Rebecca shouted back, "Fine!" and turning around the other way, she walked away.

Jason looked at Rebecca's retreating back, "Rebecca!" he shouted at her. Looking the other way at Amanda, "Amanda!" Looking back and forth between the two girls, "You can't end it like this."


	18. Playing Peacemaker

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 18 – Playing Peacemaker

Jason slowly pulled up in front of Rebecca's house. Sitting in the car and slowly gripping and releasing the steering wheel, he looked over at the front door for a moment, thinking. _"What the hell am I going to say to her?"_ Sighing softly, _"Whatever I say, I gotta end this now and quickly."_ Opening the door, he reluctantly got out of the car and slowly walked towards the front door.

After knocking on the door, Jason impatiently and nervously rocked on the balls of his feet as he waited for someone to answer. _"And to think, this is supposed to be the easy one,"_ he thought sarcastically to himself.

Opening the door, Lizzie smirked a little as she found Jason staring off into space, deep in thought. She wasn't sure what had happened, just that Rebecca had come home in a rage. When she had asked what was wrong, she just swore at her and stormed up to her room. She wanted to go to her daughter, especially after everything that had happened, but was getting practically shut out. "Jason."

Jerking in surprise, Jason's head swiveled around, "Hi Aunt Liz. Umm, is Rebecca around?"

"Yea," Lizzie said, nodding slightly, "She's up in her room." Moving aside, she motioned for Jason to come inside. "Jason? Did something happen today at school?"

"Uh," Jason paused at the base of the stairs, _"How much do I tell her?"_

Lizzie sighed softly, seeing Jason's reluctance to tell her anything but she also doubted that her friends would've told her parents anything like this either. "Its ok Jase. Go on up."

"Thanks," Jason said relieved and then bounded up the stairs two at a time.

Outside her bedroom door, he raised his hand to knock but paused for a moment. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he pushed aside the urge to run and knocked on the door. Hearing a muffled go away from inside, Jason slowly opened the door.

"Bec. Its me." Sitting at her desk, she looked up from writing something and watched him warily as he entered her room. Jason knew she was angry and upset, and that was a dangerous combination. _"Proceed with caution!"_ his mind screamed at him. "We…um…need to talk."

"Bout?"

"About," he paused unsure of what to say but then forced the words out, "About what happened." Jason took a deep breath and started to pace a little, "Even before that night, things have been falling apart." Starting to pace a little, "I've been thinking about this for a few days and after this afternoon, I'm positive about this."

Folding her arms across her chest, "Positive about what?"

"That absolutely nothing can happen between us," Jason told her, "We can't let one mistake wreck a life long friendship."

"Mistake!" Rebecca snapped at him as she jumped up and charged towards him. She knew from the beginning, that kissing him was a mistake. There was no real emotions behind it and it had just caused her world, that had already been spinning out of control, to go completely off its axis. Now, she was just grasping at the last thing that made sense. But instead of making things better, it made things worse. Emotion was over ruling logic, but the tide was slowly starting to drift back.

Jason instinctively took a step back and held his hands up defensively, "A mistake in that we shouldn't have kissed because I was dating Amanda."

_"Was dating?" _she asked herself as she stopped her advance and actually started listening to what he was saying. "What are you talking about?"

"I've decided that our friendship is more important, to me at least, to throw it all away just so I can date one of you. I just don't wanna be the cause of breaking up two best friends. You both mean the world to me, in different ways. Yea, I'm attracted to you but the truth is, I'm crazy about Amanda. But if it means the three of us not being friends, than I say its not worth it. The only way I can figure to fix this, is if we go back to the way things were. No kissing, no dating; just the three of us, friends."

Rebecca stood there, replaying everything Jason just said. _"He's gonna breakup with Amanda?"_

About an hour after his conversation with Rebecca, he was walking around the corner towards the Crafts. _"This is gonna be a lot harder. How do I tell the girl of my dreams that I want to break up and go back to the way things were?"_ Sighing softly, _"I gotta do this or everything is gonna fall apart. Its for the greater good."_ He then sarcastically snickered at himself, _"Why can't the greater good be what's better for me?"_

Coming to a stop and standing at the corner of the street, Jason looked down Amanda's street and then back the way he came._ "What am I doing? I don't even know if this is gonna work!"_ Running a hand through his dark curly hair, _"How the hell am I even going to do this."_ He was getting more nervous by the second; he knew he was going to end up hurting her, again, and it killed him.

He didn't realize that he was starting to pace, _"I can't do this. There's no way I can walk in there and just finish things."_ He paused and looked at Amanda's house, _"But if I don't, things are only going to get worse no matter what."_ Taking a deep breath, "I gotta do this," he said softly. Before losing his nerve again, he started walking towards the Craft's again and forced himself to knock on the front door.

After Rachel let him inside, and giving him a death glare, Jason slowly made his way into the kitchen where Amanda was sitting, absentmindedly looking down at a carton of chocolate ice cream as she continually stabbed it with her spoon.

"My head?" he asked sarcastically. Amanda looked up and over at him; Jason cringed at the look in her eyes. "We need to talk."

"Look, if you came her to break up with me for Rebecca, you can save it and just leave now. I'll leave you two alone."

"That's just it," Jason told her, "I don't want you to leave us alone. But…But you got part of it right." When Amanda looked at him confused, Jason tried to resist the urge to not do it. "I think…I think we should break up," he said as his voice cracked a little.

It was weird, Amanda had prepped herself for this scenario, but still, it actually happening, felt like someone sucker punched her.

"Ever since we got together, nothing as really gone right. Maybe the dream was never meant to be reality. I just believe that the three of us staying friends is more important than me picking one of you and the other getting left out in the cold." Jason could feel his heart breaking as he saw the hurt on Amanda's face. "Its for the best," he forced himself to say.

Amanda tried her best to keep herself together and not turn into blathering mess. Using her palm, she pretended to brush some hair back but was actually wiping at her eye. "I guess."

After a few minutes of very tense silence, Jason gently tapped the countertop, "I should go." Amanda just nodded and watched him leave. Biting her lip, she slowly got up out of the chair, leaving the ice cream carton where it was, and feeling defeated, walked to her bedroom.

Late the following morning, Amanda was laying on top of her unmade bed. With her eyes closed, she wasn't really asleep but had no real desire to get up; plus it being Saturday, there was no immediate reason to get up. As she laid there, she tried to not thinking of anything because everytime she did, her mind would immediately go to Jason.

Hearing a knock on her door, she groaned and rolled over onto her stomach. "Amanda," Kate's voice said as the door opened, "theirs someone here to see you."

_"What, more good news?"_

Kate sighed as she noted her daughter's lack of reaction. "I'll leave you two alone."

Wondering who her mother had let in, Amanda picked up her head. Her eyes locked with a pair of familiar hazel ones looking back. "Haven't you done enough?"

"I didn't come to pick another fight," Rebecca said. "I came to…apologize." She fidgeted as Amanda slowly sat up, "I never meant to hurt you. Its just these past few weeks…let's just say, I haven't been thinking clearly."

"I guess I didn't make things any better with me walking around jealous and a chip on my shoulder," Amanda admitted. "I was so focused on proving that you were coming between me and Jase, that not only did I forget you lost your dad, I went off the deep end when something did happen."

Rebecca sat down on the desk chair, "Look, I'm sorry for screwing things up between you and Jason. I was just so scared and I kinda latched onto the only thing that was making me feel better, unfortunately, it was Jason. Things just got out of hand."

"So what are we gonna do now?"

"We try to put everything back together. I care too much about you two that I don't want to throw away our friendship over this," Rebecca said softly, "I need you guys. Who else would put up with me?" she joked and they both smiled a little.

After a moment, "Jason talk to you?" Rebecca watched as a sad look cross over Amanda's face, _"I'll take that as a yes."_

"He came over yesterday afternoon," Amanda mumbled as she wiped her eye, trying very hard not to cry but failing.

Now Rebecca really felt horrible as she watched her best friend starting to cry. The only thing she could do was get up, sit down next to her on the bed, and hug her. As she did, Rebecca could only repeat, "I'm sorry," she whispered to her as she started crying too.

Pulling her head back a little, Amanda looked at her through teary eyes, "Why do you keep apologizing?" Amanda asked with a horse voice. "I screwed up, its my fault things are this bad. I turned into the selfish, jealous bitch. Its my fault I lost everything; my boyfriend and my best friend. You needed me and I didn't care. How can you come over here and apologize? You didn't stab me in the back, hell, if anything I stabbed you in the back." Amanda started feeling worse as she slowly started to realize how selfish and how much of a jerk she had been lately. This was far worse than just losing Jason, she had become everything she hated and it had come so naturally, she didn't even realize it. "I'm so sorry."

Rebecca smiled softly at her; while it was a bit too late, it was still nice to hear her say it and it did make the next thing easier, "You didn't lose everything and I still wanna be your best friend. I came cause Jason's visit made me realize that we were on the verge of losing everything and what could happen if we didn't try anything," Rebecca said as she wiped her eyes. "We've fought before but nothing like this; this may be one of our worst. But we need each other, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too."

Grabbing Amanda's hand, "And you and Jase are not over. I need to talk to…no…we both need to talk to Jase. I'm telling you right now, we've been together for far too long and there's no way in hell, I'm gonna break in a whole new set of best friends," she said sarcastically and they both let out a tired laugh, "I refuse to let our friendship go without a fight and you shouldn't let him go without one either. We end this now. You with me?"

Amanda wiped the tear tracks on her cheeks and smiled a little as she nodded. "Yea, I'm in. So how do we do it?"

As they stood up, Rebecca shrugged, "I have no idea. I just know this is something we gotta do."


	19. Not Forget But Move On

Elementals – Thanks for pointing out the mistakes, I went back and fixed them. I don't know why but I keep getting their names mixed up.

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 19 – Not Forget But Move On

A few hours after their talk, Amanda and Rebecca were walking out of the Digital Bean and down the street. They decided they could better come up with a battle plan over breakfast. As they were walking, Rebecca could feel Amanda watching her. Glancing over, "What?"

"You alright?"

"I guess," Rebecca said with a shrug. "I mean with everything that's happened, I feel alright." Taking a sip of her cinnamon coffee, "Why?"

Amanda looked down at her own vanilla coffee for a moment, "When you walk past fresh chocolate chip muffins without so much as blinking, something's off."

Rebecca shrugged again, "I'm just not hungry." Sipping her coffee, "Its like Mom bakes and bakes all day and I see all this food that I'd normally wolf down, and gain thirty pounds off of, but it just makes me nauseous."

"Have you been eating anything at all?"

Shrugging again, "A little, when I get really hungry, but for the most part, I'm just not hungry." Amanda sighed softly and Rebecca looked at her, "Don't."

"What?"

"The last thing I need right now is a second mother. My mom is already on me about not eating, I don't need it from you too," Rebecca told her.

"Ok," Amanda agreed to stop, for now at least. "You still wanna go talk to Jase?"

Pausing for a moment, Rebecca stared off blankly into space, "Yea. We gotta deal with this now." As they continued to walk towards the Gordon's, Rebecca and Amanda talked about the best way to approach what's been happening.

Miranda stood in the back doorway and watched Jason bounce the ball in the air off his foot. She watched him kick it higher and higher, until he finally swung his foot back and drilled the ball into the chain link fence that surrounded the yard. As Jason chased after the ball, Miranda frowned a little.

While she was proud of Jason trying to fix things between the three of them, she was upset cause she knew how much it hurt Jason to breakup with Amanda.

"Jay." She waited till he turned towards her, "I heard what you did."

"How," Jason started to ask but was cut off.

"Please. You actually think there's anything you three do that we don't eventually find out about," Miranda said with a false smile as she walked out on the deck. "Takes a lot of guts to do what you did."

"What?" Jason said sarcastically, "Going face to face with two very angry girls. I'm use to it, especially after living with you and Maria."

Miranda smirked a little, "Watch it," she shot back. Sobering a little, "You know what I mean."

"I just did what had to be done."

"You know," Miranda said, "the older you get, the more you remind me of your father. Sometimes you both think too much."

"What the hell do you want me to say?" Jason snapped, "I didn't want to do it but its not like I had any other choice."

Miranda had to bite back a smile, _"He may be his father's son but there's still some of his mother in him."_ "You always have a choice."

"The only other choices I saw was them trying to kill each other or at the very least throwing away a life long friendship," Jason said is voice getting louder, the angrier he got. "So tell me Mom, what other choice did I have?"

Not waiting for an answer, Jason started ranting, "Why is it when everything starts fitting together, it all falls apart again," he snarled as he brought his leg back and kicked the ball hard, back into the fence.

"Come here kid," Miranda said, gesturing him over. Reluctantly, Jason walked over and sat down next to her. Miranda draped an arm around his shoulder and even though he tried to shrug it off, he let his mother pull him into a hug. "Have I ever told you about how your father and I got together."

Jason groaned and Miranda snickered. "We've all heard it," Jason said, "You two bumped into each other in the airport in New York."

"That's how it started but not how we got together," Miranda corrected him. "When your father came back after he finished filming that movie, everything was supposed to fall into place; he'd come back, we start dating, and I at least dreamed of getting married. Well, right before your dad came home, I got a letter from an old flame and things kinda got a little crazy."

"Crazy? With you?" Jason teased and Miranda playfully slapped him upside the head.

"As I was saying; everything was looking like it was coming together, when your father got home, we'd be together. But then the letter came and threw me for a loop. I didn't know what to do. Your father, just wanting me to be happy, was willing to let me go even though he didn't want to, just so I'd be truly happy," Miranda told him.

"What happened?"

"A few days later your father was offered another movie and we had to decide what we wanted. I realized I didn't want him to go, at least without me. The rest you pretty much know."

"And this helps me how?" Jason asked.

Miranda smiled, "I wouldn't be surprised if Amanda came around soon to snap you to your senses like your father did for me."

"Yea right," he said a little dejectedly. Hearing a noise, Miranda glanced at the corner of the house and her smile widened.

"I'd listen to her Jase," a very familiar voice said to him, "She knows what she's talking about."

Jason's head snapped around, "Amanda." He watched as Amanda and Rebecca walked around the corner of the house into the backyard and towards them.

"Hey," Amanda said, giving him a weak smile.

"I'll let you three talk," Miranda said as she stood up and then walked back inside.

"So you two talking again?" Jason asked cautiously.

Rebecca and Amanda looked at each other for a moment, "Yea," Rebecca answered.

"After your little speeches yesterday, we talked this morning," Amanda said.

Rebecca finished for her, "And we decided you're an idiot."

Amanda smirked at Rebecca's choice of words and watched Jason practically jump to his feet. She could tell he was trying his best to reel in his temper.

"What the hell did I do now?"

"Calm down sparky," Rebecca teased, "We're talking about your stupid idea of bringing everything back to the way it was. We can't, especially not now. We've been through too much."

"So what now?" Jason asked, calming a little.

"We figure out how to move on," Rebecca said as she walked over and sat down on the deck steps. Looking up at her two friends, she frowned a little at how awkward they seemed around each other. "Look," she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause this. I was just so lost that I,"

"Stop blaming yourself," Amanda told her, "All of us had a part in this." Amanda walked over and sat down next to her.

"How?" Rebecca asked confused, "It was my dad who died, I'm the one that went psycho with you and Jason."

"We've been through this once already," Amanda said as she draped an arm over Bec's shoulders, "I was there too, not worried about how you were dealing but getting jealous," Amanda sighted, "I'm sorry for bein a lousy friend."

Rebecca said softly, "None of us has been really good friends lately." Looking up at Jason, "When my dad died, I just didn't know what to do. Before, my dad would be gone but I knew he'd be back and where he was. Now…I don't know." Rebecca glanced back and forth between Amanda and back at Jason. "But I still started this. Even though I didn't want to admit it, I was just so scared of losing someone else. I think that's why I kinda clung onto Jason. He's always been the one to keep me grounded."

"Yea, he's good at that," Amanda than smirked a little, "Isn't it annoying?"

Jason rolled his eyes, "I feel so cheap and used right now…and not in a good way." Both girls looked at him and rolled their eyes.

Amanda looked at him with an arched eyebrow, "When was there ever a good way?"

Jason smirked at her, "Wanna go swimming again?"

Rebecca turned to look at Amanda, "You left something out?" she asked with a devious smile.

Amanda flushed red, "I may have."

"What?" Rebecca pushed wanting to know more details.

Jason answered, "I was tricked and used. Amanda just used me as her play thing." He turned slightly away from them, "I'm not ready to talk about it," Jason said, trying to be melodramatic. The girls looked at him, knowing he was full of it, and started laughing at him. Jason's smirk widened and he started laughing too.

After a few minutes, the laughter died down, and the three were grinning at each other. "I think this is the first time in awhile that someone hasn't been yelling or crying," Jason pointed out.

"Yea," Rebecca said, "Thanks."

"I think we may actually have a chance at salvaging this sham we call a friendship," Amanda said sarcastically.

"If the three of us have a chance," Rebecca said, "how about the two of you?" Jason and Amanda looked shyly away from each other, and Rebecca smirked. "You two are hopeless. You two are gonna get back together eventually, so why not cut out the crap, and just get back together already."

"Its not that easy," Amanda said.

"Only if you make it that way," Rebecca said standing up, "Look, I gotta get going anyway. You two talk, I'll call you guys later."

Amanda and Jason watched Rebecca walk around the corner of the house and then looked back at each other, neither really sure where to start.


	20. Putting The Pieces Back Together

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 20 – Putting The Pieces Back Together

Amanda watched Jason fidget in front of her. She knew he was trying to think of what to say; thinking up and rejecting different approaches. "Just stop thinking and tell me what's going on in that high speed head of yours."

Jason couldn't help but smirk. Like his father, he did have a tendency to over think a lot of things and never really end up anywhere. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "I feel like a jackass." Amanda watched Jason walk over to her and sit down next to her on the steps. "We finally get together and then I blow it. I thought I was helping her, I thought I was just being her best friend, I never thought it create…this." Resting his forehead against his palms, he dug his fingers into his hair, "We finally get together and then everything goes to hell."

Amanda watched him rake his hands through his hair as he muttered to himself. Reaching over she pulled his hands away from his head, "Jase." Slowly looking over at her, Amanda smiled a little as she looked into Jason's eyes. "It wasn't all your fault." Not letting go off him, she slowly slid her hands down from his wrists to his hands, "Me walking around with a chip on my shoulder didn't help either."

"Yea but I kissed,"

"Shut up Jase. I know what you did," Amanda told him, "But I also know things have been screwed up lately and I don't care whose fault it is, I just want to get past this."

Jason sat there quietly for a moment thinking. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Amanda said with a shrug.

"How come you didn't snap at me like you did with Bec?"

Amanda thought about it for a moment, "I don't know. It just seemed…easier. I wanted things to work out between us so badly, I immediately just blamed her for everything. It wasn't fair and you did hurt me but I just couldn't stay mad at you. No matter how hurt I was, I wanted you with me." Amanda looked down at her hands as she fidgeted with her fingers. "I don't really think I can give you an answer that make sense. It made sense up here," she says pointing to her head, "but in motion, it didn't work out like I thought it would."

Jason looked down at the ground for a moment, now really feeling like an ass. "Do you think we really have a chance at picking up the pieces and giving it a second try?"

Amanda gave him a weak smile, "I'd like to think that we could try it again."

Slowly reaching out, Jason gently grabbed her hand and pulled her over to him, "I'm really sorry I hurt you."

"I know," she told him. She laughed softly under her breath, "Its funny, we weren't talking for what, like a week, and I really missed you."

Jason smirked and Amanda playfully slugged him. Chuckling, "I missed you too." Amanda moved to the step below him and sat in between his legs. Jason gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders and smiling a little, Amanda leaned back against him. They both knew they had a lot to work through but for the moment, they were happy with the little breakthrough that brought them back together.

"You know I heard someone was having a wedding," Jason said with a smirk, "Know anything about it?"

"Perhaps," Amanda teased. Amanda's sister, Caitlyn had just recently gotten engaged and already Kate was planning a huge wedding for her. "In fact, I'm really close with the Maid of Honor."

"So, will you save me a dance?"

Amanda smirked, "Depends."

"On?"

Amanda titled her head back so she could look up at him, "Are you asking me as my best friend or as my boyfriend?"

Jason smiled, "How about we work on that and see what happens."

"Deal."

The following Monday morning found Miranda in the office leaning back in her chair at her drawing board and throwing pencils up in the air trying to get them to stick into the ceiling. Even though she was a wife, the mother of three and considered middle age, inside her still lurked the rebellious teenager.

Lizzie was always the one who made sure to keep them on schedule and that everything got done either on time or even early. But with Lizzie gone for the past week, Miranda worked on her own laid back schedule.

Miranda had just stuck a third pencil in the ceiling when she heard the door open, "What are you doing?" an amused voice asked as they entered the offices.

Not even looking, Miranda smirked, "Sharpening my skills."

"Is this what you do when I'm not here?" Lizzie asked, walking over to Miranda's desk. "Did you get any work done?"

Miranda chuckled softly, "Some."

Lizzie rolled her eyes and Miranda looked down from the ceiling to her. "What are you doing here anyway? Thought you were taking some time off."

"And let you run this place into the ground."

"Hey!" Miranda said while laughing, "I work…just at my own pace."

"What exactly have you gotten done?"

"Well, lets see." Miranda's smirk widened, "I filled up my coffee card and got a free French Vanilla, taught the girls how to french braid their hair, and I got some sketches done."

Lizzie looked at her like she was nuts. "You know french braiding is out of style."

Miranda answers, "And I'd care, why?"

Lizzie snickered and smirked as she grabbed Miranda's sketch book. Looking at the first picture for a moment and slowly looked up at Miranda, "Gordo…in a dress?"

Miranda shrugged, "He looks cute." she answered sarcastically.

"Actually, I've always thought his color was more dark blue." Flipping a few more pages, "Ethan in a halter top and Larry in a miniskirt, Mir, do we need to talk?" she teased.

"So I was bored."

"Did you get any real work done?"

"Eh," she shrugged, "Define work." Lizzie just rolled her eyes again and Miranda smiled, "Now, why aren't you home?"

The smile slowly faded from Lizzie's face, "I couldn't stay in the empty house just bouncing around doing nothing. I had to get out and do something."

Miranda sobered a little, "I get ya." Getting an idea, Miranda's smirk returned, "I got an idea. Wanna help me start my new coffee card?"

"Mir, we just opened. We can't close after like two minutes."

"We own the place, we can do whatever we want." When Lizzie gave her a look that basically said get serious, "Look the girls are here running the store out there, so we can sneak off for an hour or so for a business meeting," she told her, putting business meeting in air quotes.

Lizzie looked at Miranda, than her desk, and back at Miranda. Miranda could see the war in her eyes; as she comically waggled her eyebrows, Lizzie snickered, "Your such a bad influence on me."

"That's what Gordo says all the time," Miranda joked and both women started laughing.

As they were walking out, Lizzie turned to Miranda, "Mir. Thanks for treating me like I wasn't gonna break."

"I've always treated you differently…cause your special."

Lizzie glared at her as she got the double meaning, "Your paying for my coffee."

"Pay for your own damn coffee," Miranda shot back.

Lizzie laughed and smiled at her best friend, "Thanks, seriously."

"Anytime." As they left, Lizzie swung the door behind them a little too hard and as it slammed shut, Miranda's pencils fell out of the ceiling and clattered to the ground. Opening the door a little, Lizzie peaked her head in and looked up at the ceiling for a moment and then down at the pencils on the ground. With a small smirk, she shut the door again.

Later in the day, Rebecca was sitting in her room, working in on homework when Lizzie walked into the room. "Hey honey, what ya doing?"

Rebecca glanced up at her, "English homework." Putting her notebook into her text book, "Something up?"

Lizzie shook her head as she sat down on the edge of Rebecca's bed. "I just wanted to talk to you for a moment." Fidgeting for a moment, "How are things with Jason and Amanda?"

"Alright, I guess. We're gonna try and work it out but right now, I'm giving them some space." Rebecca looked at her mother for a moment, "What is it?"

Taking a deep breath, "I'm thinking about moving."

"What!" Rebecca shouted, jumping to her feet, "Move? Move where?"

"The other side of town, closer to your grandparents. Its just…a smaller house. This house just feels so empty now. Than when you go away to school in a year, its just gonna be me bouncing around in this place."

Sitting down next to her mother, Rebecca nodded as she agreed with her mother. The house did feel oddly different without her father around. "When?" she asked softly.

"Maybe in a few months," Lizzie answered as she wrapped an arm around her daughter. "There's a nice little house a few blocks from your grandparents. Me and Mir took a look at it this afternoon. I was gonna put a bid in on it but I wanted to talk to you first." Lizzie looked over at her, "What do you think?"

"I don't know," Rebecca answered at first and then rested her head on her mom's shoulder, "I guess, its just kinda weird to be leaving this place. Even as a little girl, I remember how excited you two were when you bought this place."

"Me too," Lizzie said sadly, "But this place will be nice too." Sighing softly, "Hungry?"

"Starving."

"Sushi?"

Rebecca laughed a little, "Dad hated that stuff."

"I know," Lizzie said as they stood up and they both grinned at each other. "Come on." Keeping her arm around her daughter, Lizzie and Rebecca quietly left her room and headed downstairs.


	21. Almost As Good, Just With A Few Cracks

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 21 – Almost As Good, Just With A Few Cracks

It had been almost a year since Todd's death shook the group but slowly things were starting to fall back into place. Jason and Amanda were back together, Rebecca and Lizzie were slowly moving past Todd's death and at the moment, everyone was celebrating Caitlyn's wedding.

As the reception was going on around them, Gordo rested his chin against his palm and grinned as he looked across the table. He was watching in amusement as Natalie, his youngest, was engrossed in her coloring book, trying to make the picture look perfect. He could hear her mumbling to herself as she colored, critiquing which colors looked best with each other and which color to use next. The little seven year old was picking up many of Gordo's mannerisms, much to Miranda's annoyance. But Gordo got her back every time Natalie's Spanish temper flared.

As he was watching Natalie, Gordo heard Amy Tudgeman's voice from the table next to him, "What is it with you and board games?"

Gordo chuckled softly and glanced to his left where the Tudgeman family was sitting.

"I just think they bring the family together," Larry countered his wife.

"That's why you treat monopoly like a blood sport," Amy quickly countered.

"I do not," Larry shot back and looked around the table at his children for support, "We all like playing, right?" All he got were three pairs of eyes glaring back at him.

"Honey, why do you think you had to force the kids to play last night?" Amy asked sarcastically to him.

"Heaven forbid I want to spend some time with our children," Larry stated sarcastically.

"And they wonder why I rarely come home," Nick muttered under his breath and then winced when Sasha kicked him under the table. Nick was away at school at NYU, studying computer engineering.

"We like spending time with you too Dad," Sasha told him, "Its just you take it so seriously."

Larry sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, "Fine." Amy snickered and put an arm around her husband and gave him a kiss.

"Hi," Maria said as she walked over to the table, "What were you talking about?" she asked as she kissed Eric's cheek. Nick snickered softly and winced as he was again kicked under the table, this time by Eric.

"My Dad's love of board games."

Maria laughed softly, "Board games. My mom won't let us play them anymore."

As the other four looked at her in surprise, Eric laughed as he knew there was a story behind it. "And why would that be?"

Maria chuckled softly and grinned sheepishly as she shrugged, "I may have snapped the monopoly board over Jason's head."

As everyone started laughing, "You and Dad should play. That'd be a hella of a game," Sasha said with a small laugh.

Maria than turned to Eric, "Dance with me."

"Not right now."

Maria gave him a sarcastic laughed, "Silly boy," she said and as she stood up, jerked him out of his seat, "You thought I was asking."

Larry grinned at his son, "Never argue with a woman, son." He then quickly added, "Especially a daughter of Miranda Sanchez, you'll only get run over." Glancing to his right when he heard Gordo snicker, the two shared a sarcastic grin.

Across the room Miranda, Kate, and Lizzie were standing near the bar, talking about the date Lizzie had last weekend. It was her first date since Todd's death; while she'd never be completely over him, she felt it was time to start moving on and get back to living her life. Kate had set her up with an acquaintance of her's from her job.

"So how was it?" Kate asked with an amused grin.

Lizzie snickered softly, "It was alright. He took me out to Villa Roma. It was nice to get out again but there really wasn't…any," Lizzie trailed off as she tried to think of the right word.

"Sparks," Miranda finished for her and Lizzie nodded in conformation.

Kate nodded as well; she knew nothing was going to probably happen but she just wanted to see Lizzie happy again. "So what now? Gonna go to some single bars?" Kate teased.

Lizzie smirked and mock glared at her. "I am not going to some cheesy bar to get hit on by a bunch of slime balls."

Laughing a little, Kate came up with another idea, a real idea, "How about trying to look up an old love. Someone before Todd happened."

Lizzie's smirk widened, "That's a good idea." She then glanced at Miranda for a moment, "Though I don't think Miranda would like that very much," she teased. As Miranda rolled her eyes, Kate and Lizzie laughed.

"So Gordo is the only other guy you've ever been in love with?" Kate asked her.

"Pretty much. I mean I dated Gordo almost all through High School and then in college, Todd," Lizzie told them, "I don't know, right now, I don't want to fall in love with someone else, Todd is…Its just too soon."

Miranda wrapped her arm around Lizzie and gave her a one arm hug. "We get it. Your still healing."

After watching some of the couples dancing and making fun of them, "Alright, I'm gonna go find my husband, I wanna dance," Kate said.

"Why? You tryin to get hurt?" Miranda joked, referring to Ethan's dancing skills or lack there off.

"Shut up Gordon. Your just jealous," Kate shot over her shoulder as she walked away.

Miranda laughed sarcastically and then turned back to Lizzie. "So, how are you liking the new house?"

"Its nice, not the same as our old one but its starting to feel like home." Lizzie chuckled softly, "And its defiantly starting to look like a home. You know that third bedroom. Well, I let Rebecca turn into a studio, there's stuff scattered everywhere. But she's enjoying herself and she's found something she's really good at, I just don't have the heart to say anything to her. We may have a third partner before long."

Miranda smiled at her, "I'm glad things are getting better, you deserve it. Both of you."

"Thanks."

Looking across the room, she chuckled softly, "And I see Rebecca is happy too," Miranda teased as she watched Rebecca twirling her hair around a finger as she was visibly flirting with a guy.

Lizzie glanced at her for a moment and then followed her line of sight. Seeing what she was seeing, she snickered softly. "Yea. I'm happy that Amanda is starting to get back to normal…just wish she wasn't such a flirt." Lizzie grinned as she heard Miranda laughing. "Keep laughing," Lizzie told her and then pointed off to side of the room with a smug grin. Miranda looked over and rolled her eyes as this time, Lizzie laughed at her. "So when should I make the wedding dress?"

Lizzie was pointing at where Amanda and Jason were dancing, or at least attempting to, closely. It was basically just them swaying back and forth while in each other's arms. It had taken awhile but Jason and Amanda had repaired their relationship and were now as close as ever.

"Ok, one, there is no way in hell they are getting married anytime soon," Miranda said sarcastically, "Two, if anyone is gonna make her wedding dress, its me."

As Lizzie and Miranda continued teasing each other about their respective children, Kate had made her way from them at the bar to were her husband was sitting at their table. Smiling, she slid into the seat next to him.

Ethan grinned at her, "How's the mother of the bride doing?"

"It feels kinda weird watching my daughter get married," she told him, "Its moments like these that make me really realize I had my baby really too young."

"Yea, but you did an awesome job raising her," Ethan told her with a grin.

"I should be thanking you. Even before we got back together, you treated her like she was your own daughter. I don't think there is any way I can repay you for everything you've done."

Ethan gave her a devilish grin, "I can think of some ways."

Kate giggled and smirked at him, "I'm sure you can," she teased. "But right now," she stood up and grabbing Ethan's hand, "let's dance." Ethan smirked and stood up; wrapping his arms around his wife's waist, drew her in and kissed her. Kate's smirk widened, "Just can't resist yourself can you?" Kate smiled as Ethan laughed; he really was her Prince Charming. Even when they weren't together, he was always there for her. She marveled at the way Lizzie was healing after losing Todd, she doubted that she was that strong if anything ever happened to Ethan. _"I hope to god I never have to find out."_


	22. Life Goes On

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 22 – Life Goes On

Jason rested his head against his palm, rolled his eyes, and drummed his fingers of his other hand on the tabletop as he listened to Rebecca and Amanda gossiping. He was glad that the three of them were still friends but there were times when he just wanted to be alone with his girlfriend.

Looking over at his girlfriend, he tried hard to hide the goofy smile that threatened to spread across his face. She was wearing a light pink gown that fell to her ankles, with long sleeves and a sweeping neckline, and had a pair of matching heels. Amanda had on a minimal amount of make-up and the only jewelry she had on was a pair of diamond tear drop earrings and one of her mother's pearl necklaces.

As they were talking, Rebecca glanced across the table and grinned. "Need a napkin Jase?"

Amanda looked over at him and watched Jason glared back across the table at Rebecca. Not missing a beat, "No but I wish I brought my sunglasses for you highlights," Jason quickly countered.

For the wedding, Rebecca had decided to change her hair from its normal light brown to a dark shade of blonde, just something different she had said. Unfortunately, she had left the dye in too long and instead of changing it to a dirty blonde or honey blonde, it made it platinum blonde. With her light skin tone, like her mother's, it made it really stand out and it didn't help that she had chosen to wear a dark blue dress. It didn't look bad but it was noticeable, especially to people who had been so use to seeing her with darker hair.

Of course Jason hadn't let up on her from the first moment he saw her and even Amanda had gotten in a few shots too. But Rebecca gave as good has she got. Their sarcastic banter back and forth had been one of the first signs that the tension was easing between the three of them and all three, even though none of them would admit it, had missed it.

"You got a death wish little boy?" Rebecca threatened. She then turned to Amanda, "Can't you keep him under control? If he keeps it up," she quickly turned back to Jason, narrowing her eyes at him, "you may not have a groom at your wedding."

Amanda rolled her eyes as Rebecca glared at a grinning Jason. While things had gotten better between them, they may never, and probably won't ever, get back to the way they were and the three of them had accepted that. They were ready to put all the drama in the past and after all the problems they worked through in the past year, their friendship seemed to come out stronger.

Jason was about to shoot off another wise crack when they where interrupted. The MC had announced that the bride was going to toss the bouquet and Jason snickered softly at how excited the girls got about it. Jason watched as the herd of girls, as he put it, gathered on the dance floor a few feet away from Caitlyn. Leaning back in his chair, he folded his arms across his chest and waited to watch the on coming dogpile to get a bunch of flowers.

Just as Caitlyn turned around, she caught Jason's eye and he could almost swear, she smirked at him. _"What the hell was that?"_ he thought to himself as he suddenly got a sense of impending doom. Sitting up straighter, he watched Caitlyn toss the bouquet over her shoulder. Except it had a weird flight pattern; instead of Caitlyn just flinging it over her shoulder to whoever, she seemed to have a target in mind. Than as if in slow motion, Jason groaned as he realized who the target was, _"Amanda."_

As Rebecca and Amanda, with the bouquet, came back to the table, Rebecca laughed at Jason. Amanda just walked back with a small smile as she glanced down at the flowers in her hands. Rebecca started laughing harder as Jason rolled his eyes. _"Why me?"_ Jason thought as he bit his tongue and not wanting to give Rebecca more ammo.

The MC broke his thoughts as he called for all the single guys to come out for the groom to throw the garter belt. Before he could react Rebecca grabbed his wrists and practically flung him forward out of his chair. As he stumbled forward he glared back at a wildly grinning Rebecca.

Jason looked around at the other guys in the crowd and felt like a shrimp in the sea of linebackers. Even though he was like twice their size, there was no way he was going to let them touch Amanda. Jason watched the groom turn around and toss the garter over his shoulder. He watched it fly through the air but just as he was about to move, one of the larger guys snatched it out of the air.

As the other guys jeered the one who caught it, Jason walked off with a scowl.

Walking past each other, Amanda smiled at him but Jason just walked past her with the scowl still on his face. Reaching his table, he turned around and folded his arms across his chest.

Not being able to resist, "Nice catch," Rebecca teased and she snickered as she watched Jason's jaw twitch. "Jealous?" she asked sarcastically and grinned when Jason's head slowly turned towards her and he glared. Jason knew he had nothing to worry about but his ego was getting the better of him, especially as he watched the other guy slip the garter belt up Amanda's leg.

Still amused by all this, Rebecca leaned over and whispered into his ear, "I think you could take him. You may be small but your quick."

Having enough, "Do you ever shut up?" Jason snapped at her.

"I'm just making up for lost time." Rebecca was having way too much fun teasing him as Amanda came back to them. "Having fun being the center of attention?" she asked Amanda sarcastically.

Amanda just glared back at her and reaching Jason, immediately knowing the look on his face, wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep kiss. As they kissed, Rebecca made gagging noises, "I think I'm gonna hurl."

Breaking the kiss, Jason looked at her and smirked, "I'd insult you back but your highlights are giving me a headache."

Rebecca playfully shoved Jason's head back and laughed. "Alright, I can tell you two love birds wanna be alone. The cute blonde over there looks like he wants to dance, I'm gonna go fulfill his wish." With that Rebecca made her way across the room as Amanda snickered at her best friends new aggressive behavior.

"So how was it?" Jason finally asked.

Amanda shrugged, "Odd and kinda disgusting." She then leaned in and whispered into his ear, "The only man's hands I want on me are yours. Wanna help me take it off?" she giggled as she watched his ears turn bright red in embarrassment. "Your cute when your flustered," she said after kissing his cheek and toying with his hair.

A few minutes later, they were standing by the head table and Jason was nervously watching her toy with the bouquet. "You don't actually believe in that silly superstition, do you?"

Amanda smirked, dragging it out a bit before she gave him an answer, "That we're next to get married? No. We've got a long ways to go before we get married."

"We do? You sound like you got this whole thing planned out."

"I do," she deadpanned and giggled softly at his expression, "I've been dreaming up our wedding since we were little. Normally, most girls don't know who'll the groom will be, but I knew." She smiled at him, "It won't be as lavish as this, I'm not like my sister. Your mom will make my dress; I've seen the old photos of hers and I want one exactly like it. It'll be small and I haven't decided yet if it'll be Jewish or Christian."

Amanda grinned as some of the color drained from his face. Giggling a little, "Relax, I'm just messin with you." Her grin widened as Jason let out a deep breath. "I've thought about it but I don't have every exact detail planned out."

"Don't I get say in it?" he asked.

"Nope," she said with a laugh. "All your doing is showing up and saying I do."

"Oh really, and if I don't?"

Amanda playfully glared at him, "You really want to find out?"

Jason smirked at her, "No, not really." He than leaned over and kissed her.

Smiling a little as she watched the wedding cake being pulled out, "Although, I may have you do something after all," she said and then pointed at the cake, "I mean pastries are a Gordon specialty," she teased.

Jason grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him, so that they were face to face, "One of many," he told her with a suggestive grin, to which Amanda grinned back.

"Can I ask you something?" Jason nodded and Amanda rested her forehead against his, "Do you think we'll get this far?" she asked, meaning the wedding that was going on around them, "I mean with college, growing up," she trailed off as she looked down.

Jason took a breath, considering it for a moment, "I don't know. I mean, I hope we do but that's like at least four years from now. Right now, after everything that's happened, I want to focus on now. Finishing High School, lookin forward to college, and having fun this summer," he then grinned at her when she looked up at him, "preferably some of it alone with my girlfriend," he said sarcastically.

Amanda arched an eyebrow at him, "Alone? And what exactly do you have in mind?" she teased back.

"You'll just have to wait and see," he told her and gave her a small kiss.

Amanda smiled at him, "There's something else."

"Oh god," he said melodramatically. "What now?"

Using her heels, she kicked him in the shin, "Shut up and listen before I change my mind." Loping her arms around his neck, she smiled at him as she looked into his eyes, "I love you," she had been wanting to tell him that for a very long time but with everything, she had been really nervous about telling him those simple three words. Watching the soft smile that tugged on Jason's lips, she knew she didn't have to be.

"I love you too."

Amanda noticed Jason's eyes shift to the left for a moment and then come back to hers. Rolling her eyes, "Way to ruin a moment Gordon. Go get your stupid cake," she said sarcastically.

Jason gave her a goofy half grin, "Thanks. You're the best girlfriend."

"I know, I know. Now go." She giggled to herself as she watched him practically run over there like a little boy, "And bring me back a piece," she yelled after him.


	23. Reflecting On Fairy Tales Gone By

A/N – _"Thoughts" _

Chapter 23 – Reflecting On Fairy Tales Gone By

Miranda and Lizzie were still standing near the bar, talking, and sipping on glasses of wine as they watched the bouquet and garter tosses. When Amanda caught the bouquet, Miranda snickered as she imagined the look on her son's face and Lizzie teased her a little.

At the moment, with a small smile, Miranda was looking across the room at her table, watching her husband and youngest daughter. Glancing at her, Lizzie noticed her smile and followed her line of sight. Her own smile appeared on her face as she too watched Natalie gesturing wildly as she talked excitedly to Gordo about something.

"What's up with Nat?" Lizzie asked.

Snickering, "There is one thing you learn very quickly in the Gordon family," Miranda told her with a sarcastic grin.

"What?"

"They love desert," she said laughing and pointing off to the side.

Lizzie looked over and seeing the wedding cake, started laughing too. Lizzie was very familiar with Gordo's tastes for sweets, as he was often the one who finished off most of her baking, and wasn't surprised that it had passed on to his children. "How do you know that's what they're talking about?"

"Three words," Miranda said, "Daddy's little girl." Putting her empty wine glass onto the bar, she walked over. Lizzie did the same with her own glass and quickly fell into step. "This one," Miranda said, referring to Natalie, "as some kind of radar that tells her when there's cookies, cakes, and stuff around," she joked and Lizzie snickered.

Nearing the table, they could hear Natalie's voice now. "You see it Daddy? It was this big!" she said gesturing vertically with her arms, though over exaggerating a bit. Gordo just grinned at her, getting a kick out of it. "I wonder if its chocolate or vanilla." Then her eyes went wide as she thought of something, "What if its both?" Looking back at it, "I wonder how they made it? Its too big for a regular oven, like Mommy's got." Gordo's smile widened as he listened to her ramble on about the cake. "It kinda looks like three different cakes on top of each other," Natalie said.

"Like I said Daddy's little girl."

Hearing her mother's voice, Natalie spun around and looked up at her, "Did you see it Mommy?" she asked excitedly. Miranda grinned down at her and nodded. "It had three levels, with frosting." She quickly looked over at the cake and then back at Miranda, "Can I have some?" she asked with pleading eyes, "Please."

Miranda smirked at her and Lizzie snickered softly. "I'll take her," Lizzie offered. It was times like theses that she missed Rebecca being younger.

"Can she?" Natalie asked her mom, getting more excited by the moment.

"Go," Miranda said after pretending to give it some thought. Just as Natalie turned to leave, Miranda quickly added, "One piece, I don't need you getting sick."

"Ok Mommy," Natalie said absentmindedly and continued to walk off with Lizzie towards the cake.

Gordo chuckled softly, "You do know she's gonna have more than one piece."

"I know and its your fault," Miranda said sarcastically to him.

"Hey, its not all my fault. I believe she got her cunning and devious side from her mother." Gordo watched for a moment as a proud smile appeared on Miranda's face. When he laughed, she glared at him for a moment but then started laughing as well.

As the laughter slowly died down, Miranda looked down at Gordo with a smile, "You really got start wearing a suit more often," she told him as let her eyes wonder over him. Gordo had on a tailored black suit with a white dress shirt, a black and silver striped tie, and a pair of black dress shirts.

Pulling at the collar and stretching his neck, "I hate wearing suits."

"Put you look good in them," she said back as she sat down in the seat next to him, "Plus, it comes with a built in leash." Miranda then grabbed Gordo's tie and used it to pull him over to her so she could kiss him. As Miranda pulled back a little, she smirked, watching a familiar expression pass over Gordo's face. "Later."

"Promise?" asked with a smirk of his own.

Letting of the tie and her finger tips trail down his chest, "Oh you better believe it." Miranda giggled a little as Gordo gave her his trademark half smirk and she moved her chair closer to him, so that they were now sitting shoulder to shoulder. Gordo rested his arm on the back of Miranda's chair and started to gently run his fingers through her hair.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Gordo whispered in her ear.

Miranda had on a black pant suit with thin white pinstripes running along it vertically and a peach colored blouse underneath the jacket, along with a pair of simple black heels. Glancing at him, her smirk widening, "I told you later," she told him sarcastically and they both started laughing again. Slowly looking around, Miranda's smirk turned into a genuine smile, "You remember our wedding? I was a nervous wreck."

Gordo snorted at her remark, "Ever since we got together, you've made me a nervous wreck," he said under his breath but loud enough for his wife to hear him.

Miranda gasped at him and slugged his thigh, which made Gordo wince. As he rubbed his leg, she went to hit him again but Gordo quickly grabbed her arm, "If I didn't love you so much, I hurt you permanently."

"Oh come on," he said as he struggled with her for a moment before pulling her into his side where he wrapped his arm around her to keep her there. "In New York, I give you a place to stay and then the next morning, you scare me half to death."

Snickering under her breath, "Oh but you enjoyed the McGuire's Christmas Party," she teased back.

"Of course I enjoyed kissing you. I've always enjoyed that, I've never denied that," he said with a laugh, "But then when I came back after the movie was done."

Miranda watched the smile vanish for a moment as he remembered what happened when he came back from New York City. She frowned a little and then cupping his chin, turned his head to her and kissed him. "Gordo," she told him; that was one moment that she really never wanted to remember. For a brief moment she questioned her feelings for Gordo, something she didn't care to remember, ever.

Gordo's mouth twitched into a smile, "But you came around."

"And how can anyone forget your proposal," Miranda said as she rolled her eyes.

"Me?" Gordo said defensively, "You're the one who scared the crap out of me when you started crying."

Looking at him, "Why do you always flip out whenever I start to cry?"

"I don't flip out…but….out of the three us," he said meaning the old trio of Lizzie, Miranda, and him, "You were the always the strongest and while you did get upset, you rarely cried. So when you did lose it and get really emotional, I didn't know what caused it or how to stop it. It was like that time you went on that crash diet in Junior High, I didn't know what to do." When Miranda smirked at him, he glared at her, "But I think I'm getting better." Miranda just giggled a little and elbowed him in the ribs. After sitting there for a moment, in a comfortable silence, Gordo grinned a little, "Well at least Caitlyn's man didn't have to fight anyone."

"Yea, my knight in shinning armor," Miranda said sarcastically, "You talk about me scaring you, do you have any idea what you did to me the night before our wedding?" she snarled. Gordo's blue eyes looked directly into Miranda's brown ones, "Your lucky your cute." Gordo smiled and they kissed again.

Suddenly Miranda started laughing, "But you've lost it too. Remember when Jason was born."

"Please," Gordo said with a smirk, "I wasn't scared of that, I was scared of what you were yelling at me when you were in labor. One of my personal favorites, if I ever touched you again, you'd castrate me and beat me like a piñata." His smirk widened, "And then when Natalie was born, you damn me to hell and said a few other choices words in Spanish that I'm not sure I want to know what they mean." Miranda was trying hard not to laugh but was failing miserable as she kept snickering under her breath as Gordo's grin kept widening.

As usual, Miranda and Gordo were enjoying themselves, teasing each other and the playful banter back and forth. Getting lost in their own little world, Gordo smile widened as his wife's dark eyes sparkled mischievously. "I was thinking," Gordo started but was cut off by Miranda.

"That can't be good."

Glaring at her for a moment, "As I was saying…I have a few weeks off coming up and was thinking we should go on a vacation." With his arm still on the back of her chair, he threaded his fingers through her hair and gently toyed with her long raven hair. "Just the two of us. Kinda like a second honeymoon."

Miranda looked at him with an arched eyebrow, "And what exactly would we do with our children?" she asked, "You know those little people who depend on us to take care of them."

Smirking, "Jason's old enough to spend some time alone and Kate and Ethan will be next door to make sure nothing happens with him and Amanda. Maria has been wanting to go spend some time with Gaby and the new baby and your mother is gonna go visit in a bit, so Maria can go with her."

"Seeing as you've been planning this out for awhile, what about Nat?"

"A certain best friend of ours as offered to take care of her."

"So where are you taking us?" Miranda asked with a smirk, "Back to Hawaii?"

Gordo shook his head, "Technically, I'd be going back but for you it'd be a first time and you were supposed to go but ended up not being able. We are gonna spend two weeks in Italy," he snickered softly as the reaction on Miranda's face. While she had enjoyed visiting her family in Mexico, she had also regretted not being able to go to Rome with them. "We're gonna visit Milan, Pisa, Rome, and Syracuse. How's that sound?"

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Miranda lips turned into a wide smile, "Incredible."

"Only one condition though," Gordo told her.

Miranda pulled back a little and looked at him with "Oh, and what's that?"

"You can't fall for some wanna be famous pop star," Gordo told her with a smirk and Miranda started laughing.

"Deal."

That night, after the ceremony, Lizzie and Gordo were sitting on lawn chairs on the deck, enjoying the night. Inside, Miranda was trying to put Natalie to bed as she was finally coming down from her sugar rush.

As he sprawled out in his chair, Gordo noticed Lizzie looking up at the night sky, absentmindedly twirling her hair around one of her fingers. He smirked a little, _"Even after over forty years, some things never change."_ Clearing his throat to get her attention, he snickered softly as she looked at him, "So what are you thinking so hard about?"

"Nothin really," she answered with a small chuckle. "Just been thinking about some stuff." Returning her eyes to the stars, _"I can't believe its been almost a year now."_ Kicking off her heels and stretching a little, "Trying dating again and now the wedding, its just…its just got me thinking about stuff."

Gordo could tell there was some deeper but wasn't sure if she wanted to talk about it or if she wanted to didn't want to talk about it with him. "If you want, I can make myself scarce when Mir comes back. Give you girls sometime to talk."

Lizzie looked over at him surprised for a moment and then smiled softly at him, "Gordo," she said softly, "I know I've been leaning on Mir a lot lately and it does seem like we keep you out of the loop a lot…but, that's only trivial, girl stuff, you know my real secrets. The dark stuff." Lizzie reached out and rested her hand on top of his, giving it a small squeeze, "I sometimes forget how much you care about me and trust me its mutual." Taking a deep breath, _"I guess I should tell him."_ "I…I was planning on leaving Todd a few days after he died," she said so softly, Gordo almost missed it.

"You were gonna what?"

"Things were getting worse and I was gonna try a separation. See it if it knocked some sense into him. But now," Lizzie stopped as she reached up and wiped a tear away.

"What did you do now?" Miranda's voice came from the doorway.

His head whipping around, "Me?" Miranda grinned as Lizzie started laughing. "Why is it always me?"

"Cause you're a guy," Miranda said as she pulled over a chair and sat down with them, "So what were you talking about."

When Gordo looked a little apprehensive about saying, Lizzie smiled, "Its alright she knows." As she looked at her two best friends, she felt a little jealous; she wanted what they had, being together for almost twenty years and were still madly in love with each other.

"By the way Liz, thanks for getting Nat some cake," Miranda's words were dripping with sarcasm, "Could you not find a bigger piece? Or one with more frosting?"

Lizzie laughed again, "Come on, my little girl isn't so little anymore. I need someone to spoil."

"Well you'll get your chance soon and this time you get to clean it up." Miranda smiled at her, "By the way thanks."

"No problem. It'll be fun having her around," Lizzie than grinned evilly, "It'll be like having the Gordo I always wanted. Still annoying with useless facts no one could care about and stubborn but likes shopping and other girly stuff." Both women giggled softly and Gordo just rolled his eyes.

As they settled down, they sat silent for a few moments, just enjoying the night. After a bit, Gordo broke the silence, "Do you know how many summer nights we spent outside, just looking up at the sky, talking." He smiled a little as he started thinking back on some of those nights.

"I miss those times," Lizzie said and Miranda quietly nodded her agreement. "I think the last time we did it was our last night together before Gordo went away to college."

"Yea, right before we…" Gordo trailed off.

Lizzie smirked at him as she knew what he was going to say, "But you seemed to have landed on your feet," she teased, "Though I gotta admit, the two of you surprised the hell out of me. I mean I would've thought Gordo would get with Kate before you, Mir."

Miranda pretended to be hurt, "And why's that?"

"The way you two used to be constantly at each other's throats about everything." Lizzie than laughed out loud and grinned evilly again, "Though now it makes sense. All that aggression towards each other…it was all misguided, pent up, sexual frustration. Which explains why you two can't keep your hands off each other now." Miranda laughed with Lizzie and Gordo rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.

"You know Lizzie," Miranda shot back, "you were wrong."

"Bout what?"

This time Gordo grinned, "I know, there's so many things."

"Shut up Gordo," Lizzie shot at him. "What was I wrong about?"

"Fairy tales can be real," Miranda told her with a small smirk, "They may not be the kind in books and movies but they're what you make of them." Smiling a little, she reached out and slipped her arm underneath Gordo's and slid her hand inside his. Lizzie snickered as she watched them, she didn't mind being proven wrong about this. Part of her was happy that they were together but another part just missed having someone like that in her life. The three of them fell into another silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Through marriages, kids, other commitments, and just growing up, it was rare now a days for just the three of them to get a chance to spend time together like they did in the past. It was something they all missed.

As Miranda stretched her legs out in front of her and tightened her grip on Gordo's hand, she looked over at his profile as he looked up at the starry sky. She snickered softly as she could hear him muttering under his breath the constellations. _"My king," _she thought sarcastically,_ "Even when we're relaxing, the wheels are still spinning,"_ she joked to herself.

Watching for a moment, _"Its amazing and weird what love will sometimes do. It may not be like the books but I'm not complaining,"_ she thought and as she rested her head against his shoulder, she quickly added, _"Well more then normal anyway."_

Feeling her laugh to herself, Gordo looked down at her for a moment with a questioning glance. Miranda just grinned at him and before looking back up, he just rolled his eyes at her with a smirk. _"Things may not have turned out the way I expected,"_ Miranda thought as she continued to watch her husband and old best friend, _"but I'm not complaining. Its kinda weird how love and life play out. Someone you never thought of like that could end up being the love of your life."_ Smirking to herself, she looked out into the darkened backyard, giving it no more thought, and just enjoying the moment.

A/N 2 – This pretty much ends the Fairytale Collection. I'm not going to say I'll never write another sequel but right now, I have no desire to. I can't believe how this story line grew from one single scene, the airport scene when Miranda and Gordo first meet in the first story, that was replaying in my head for almost a year, into this epic of six stories. I appreciate all the support and reviews I got.

supergirljen – Where ever you are, lol, thanks for convincing me to post this and for the help early on.

tormented soul – We think way too much a like, heh. Thanks for the help and putting up with me bugging you to beta this damn thing.

Jennifer10 – I really appreciate your help on getting this final story done. I'd probably still be stuck on Todd's death if it wasn't for you. One last thing…KABOOM! (Inside joke)

hockeylover and PinkPrincess1 – Thanks for helping too, like with details about certain stuff, and dress descriptions. I appreciate it.

brie, Elementals, RTds9, Aubhin, GFMarshall, and everyone else who's reviewed – Thank you. It helped keep me motivated, especially during this story when it kinda felt like no one was reading it.


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